I Miss You
by Shilyn
Summary: When the well closes, trapping Kagome 500 years in the past, all hope seems lost on both sides of time, but Fate is a mysterious force. As a link appears between stubborn hanyou and frustrated miko, Kagome must face a future in the past. Can she survive?
1. Isolation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything in or from Inuyasha in any way...please don't file a lawsuit, pretty please?

**Author's Note:** This story is my latest, it's told first-person POV (point of view) from Mrs. Higurashi from some ten or twelve years after the story we all know. She talks about life after having lost Kagome to the Feudal Era...but the BIG part of this is the story that took place those ten or twelve years BEFORE, when Kagome passed through the well for the last time.That story is told third POV.How would she and the others take it? How would she survive? Can she even survive? And, more eerie still, how do you live out your days 500 years in the past without _changing_ something? This is the paradox about time: If you go back into the past and kill your grandfather, wouldn't you cease to exist? So, if you don't exist, how did you go back and kill your grandfather? How can Kagome be stuck on the wrong side of time and still exist? All right, that's enough of that talk. This starts off a little dark, but I intend for it to get gradually lighter as realization and the truth set in (Yes! there IS a truth and realization and stuff to come!) The new rating system kinda freaks me out...I think I would've named this one as an R before, so what is that now, an M? (shrugs) I hope I get it right...Also I have borrowed an Idea that several other fictions have used, but which I won't tell you about yet. Let me say this much: _(blah, bla, blahb!)_ are Kagome's thoughts sometimes.Last note: _Aijou_ means dearest daughter I think in Japanese..._Ashi_ means "Paw" and _Kiba_ means "Fang." There, make sure if you review to write in and tell me what you think! Laters!

**

* * *

**

**Isolation**

The house was dark and cold, though that shouldn't have surprised me. It's been that way for years and years now, but sometimes, on a few rare occasions—coming home from shopping, from seeing the dentist, or from running a small errand—arriving into the midst of the thick, heavy silence doesn't bother me. For a moment I am in my own small world, and I am all that I need. But it is always a short occurrence, and most days when I step inside that emptiness still hits me like a wall…and it's all I can do to hold back my tears and stay strong.

But not anymore. There's no reason to hold on any longer.

It wasn't so long ago—about twelve years I think—that this house flourished, it _lived_. There were no huge, heavy empty places in my heart then, well, save one, but that wound is an even older one within me, close to two decades in age. I understand quite well the effect of time on pain—physically, mentally and emotionally too. And yet although time can cure many pains, there comes a certain point at which a person—a woman, a daughter, a wife, a mother like me—realizes that the pains will only end with the coming of death.

I shall bear mine with me to the grave, but what human being doesn't? There are always regrets to be considered, and remembered. They are apart of what makes us all human. Some of us just have a few more regrets than the others…

The house keys jangled in my fingers, startling me. My mind has a tendency, especially in the silence of the looming house that I once called a home, to wander. I stepped beyond the doorway, closing the front door. I didn't bother locking it, yet the keys continued to rattle and jingle in my hands, as if mocking my silent tears and the cold, utter emptiness of the house. The sounds were swallowed whole, gobbled up.

My tears fell at that thought; the silence is so unnerving. If it weren't for that silence it might be easier for me to forget the pain inside.

Frustrated, bitter, I tossed the keys onto the kitchen table, taking slight comfort from their loud clattering protestations as they met with the solid wood. In the kitchen I switched on the first light I saw, illuminating the small space. I paused in front of the refrigerator, stove and the cabinets, swiping at the remaining tears that were skiing down my cheeks. A mirror on the side of the refrigerator, there for who knows how long and for reasons no one knows, threw my image back at me. The woman that stared me down in that little slice of reflection wasn't the woman I dreamed of becoming as a girl. She wasn't even the woman I dreamed of becoming as a younger woman! No, I'd always envisioned happiness and family, hugs, smiles, kisses and laughter. I'd never dreamed, not in my most frightening nightmares, that I'd end up widowed and for the most part abandoned…

I frowned at the reflection, at her tired, weary and mourning brown eyes. I didn't want to be reminded of how I'd failed my own dreams; my own happiness…and I didn't want to fall into self-pity. In truth not _everyone_ had abandoned me, in fact no one did anything so cruel as that. My mother and husband and father all died, it's hardly as if they _wanted _to…and my daughter? Yes, she's dead too, has to be. My son didn't vanish or leave me behind—he just headed off to college. It's his right of course, and it made me so proud to see him graduate…but at once it saddened me so, because you see, I _should've_ seen another of my children graduate by then, but she was stolen from me…

The sound of a cat's insistent crying startled me and I blinked, looking to the floor. Ashi, my Siamese, rubbed past my legs, demanding attention—or more likely tuna. Grateful for the distraction, I reached for the cabinets and pulled them open, chuckling to myself as Ashi's soft, delicate fur brushed by my ankles again, his meow almost more of a growl. He's always been a very insistent little beast. I should've named him Kiba or something of the like, rather than Ashi. I would've liked another mixed breed like the last cat we had—named Buyo—but this Siamese's blue eyes haunted me when I first saw him as a kitten in the pound…blue colored like the human eyes of a half dog demon that I once knew.

I pushed the tears that were threatening to fall away, blinking as if one of Ashi's abundant hairs had dripped into my eye. _Stop this, stop torturing yourself…_but I was beyond listening. Like a zombie—that was some little idea that my son was obsessed with as a boy, even though I always hated it—I opened the can of tuna from the cabinet, snatched a small plate and fork, and a second later I was scooping the stringy, pungently smelling meat from the tiny can. Ashi didn't wait for me to finish, he leapt up onto the kitchen counters, mewing sweetly, as if his cuteness would negate the fact that he was breaking a house law by being on the counters…but I could hardly blame him—I'd been gone all day and he hadn't been fed at all!

I gave him a tough smile, petting him once as he began to ravenously evacuate the meat from the plate into his stomach. And couldn't help but think about his eyes again, about the past, about when this house wasn't empty and cold and lifeless…

Before I knew really what had happened I was crying. The tears flew like raindrops in the spring. Still stroking Ashi I kept crying, not wild sobs, but quiet mourning whispers of grief.

The house was _always_ lonely after a day of silent horrors like the one I'd just lived…

It was just as good as abandoned when I arrived home from the hospital, that day so many years ago, with the deaths of my mother and my husband riding on my soul. In those days my two children and my father lived here as well—but when I came home that night they were all away from the house, away at the shrine praying for the safe recovery of our loved ones. It was in vain. They had died in that hospital emergency trauma room even before I'd been ushered in as the family representative. I stayed waiting for hours, thinking about how easily it could've happened to someone else in the family—all they'd done was drive to the city for some groceries—when a police officer finally came and escorted me to a back room. That was where the final horror of that day was waiting. I had to _identify_ their bodies, to assure the authorities that these were, in fact the _real_ victims.

I can still remember the blue of my mother's lips, the terrible bruising on her shoulder where the seat belt had been. I remember the way my husband's eyes were cold and lifeless, the way his neck had lolled—despite the medical professional's best attempts—to greet me with an impossible angle. I was told that the car accident had killed my husband on contact, whiplash broke his neck, cutting the mind from the body. My mother hadn't been given as brief and painless a death as my husband. When the moment of the impact came my mother's seat belt had chewed its way into her body, breaking her hips, and crushing her collarbone. Something hit just right—or is it more accurate to say just _wrong_ enough—that the bones turned inward and pierced her lungs and her heart, severing a major blood vessel. Doctors had been unable to save her.

It took us years to recover from such a blow to the family. Those first years are a blur to me, a smudge of pain. My father was strong and guided us through without ever flinching. The children grew and life went on, amazingly so. I hoped to never come back to this house with such terrible burdens, and memories, living within my heart like a parasite—but my hopes were in vain…

It'd been _that_ tragedy that had so ripped me apart, had so shattered me inside. You have heard the saying; of course, that the worst thing parents can live through is burying their own children. I didn't bury _both_ of my children, it's true, and technically I didn't even bury one of them, but that's trivial information because whether I saw my daughter's body or not doesn't matter. She's dead anyway, I _know_ she is…

And it was that loss that made this house a silent place, a place of mourning, grief and loneliness without cease. Without my daughter's laughter the life left, the _soul_. My father tried to keep us strong again—but there are only so many losses even a strong man like my father can take. He began to suffer his own illnesses. Heart trouble, arthritis, and finally cancer. It was that cancer that stole him in the end.

It was from his funeral that I'd just arrived home to feed Ashi in this old, terrible, lonely house.

Death is a clear thing. Whether we see it coming or not in the form of illness doesn't matter. I knew my father was going to die, I knew that he was ready. His time of suffering while his body turned against him—his own cells destroying him—had come to an end, and that was how he'd wanted it. He had died in happiness, or at least as close to it as one can get.

But sometimes death comes unfairly. Seeing my mother and husband ripped so cruelly away from us is something I will never lose, something I am unable to forget. I don't want to forget their smiles, their laughs, the sounds of their voices, or the way their faces looked. But I don't want to remember that they were taken so unfairly, with such horror.

And my daughter's demise…it was even worse because I never got to say goodbye at all. There was never a spot of closure. No body, no sickness, no wounds. Just one day she said her quick goodbyes, leapt through the ancient well on our property, and vanished into time. Of course such a thing was normal for her—it was her destiny my father always said, but that time, that trip, she never returned. Never again did she rap on the screen door; never again did she come into the house looking for food that on her return trip she could give to her friends living in the Feudal Era. We just never saw her again…

Close to ten years have passed since that day she disappeared, and now, with my father's death and my son's graduation from high school, I am _completely_ alone, entirely without human company.

I stopped petting the cat, blinking the cloudiness of my tears away. It was time to face something that I hadn't had the courage to deal with in a long, long time…

I started toward the stairs. Step by step I walked over them, over and up. They creaked, years of use making them loud whiners. At the top of the stairs I paused, as I always do, at the closed doorway that was once my daughter's room. When she'd not returned for a year we'd begun to realize the worst, and to keep us from seeing it each time we walked up the stairs, my father had installed a lock on the outside, closed the door, and locked it. It hadn't been opened since…but just in case she should suddenly reappear, I knew where my father had stored the key.

I walked into his old room, and was suddenly choking back tears. The memories of the funeral were still fresh in my mind, but not as fresh as his last words to me, _"Smile more…aijou."_ My father had, underneath his gruff and comical exterior, been a very caring man. I don't think my children ever really understood that, but my mother and I did, and we never forgot it. And my father never really changed, not from my first memories of him to my very last at his death…after his last words he'd drifted off into sleep, and the next day he'd been in a coma. Little more than a week later he'd passed away silently.

_Smile more, aijou._

Yes, I knew he was right to tell me something like that, but there was so much grief, so much loneliness, that I couldn't.

I stopped just inside his room, my insides quaking. I couldn't do this. My father had closed her door for a reason, and I couldn't open _two_ doors of grief at once. With my father's death hanging so soon, and still so heavily on my soul I knew I wouldn't be able to survive if I opened that door—my daughter's door. Whatever had possessed me to think that I could, to imagine, even for a moment, that it'd been the _right_ thing?

I backed away from the room and—once more like one of my son's favorite monsters, the zombies—walked to my own room. From the bookshelf I snatched a large album, a scrapbook, and I sat on my bed with it in my lap. I stayed that way for a long time, simply contemplating the images, the memories, and the pain that I would inflict on myself the moment I opened the book.

Ashi appeared at the door, mewing his arrival. A moment later he leapt to lay half in half out of my lap, purring contentedly. He smelled like tuna.

I laughed and stroked him, his friendliness filling me with new strength. _God bless him, if I didn't have this cat…_but the thought wasn't worth finishing. I was going to survive. If I didn't that would be a failure to my father. And besides that I knew there would be more happiness to come. As soon as my son found the right woman—which shouldn't be hard or very long in coming considering how good looking he is—he'd likely do as tradition had always dictated and move in with me to keep the shrine up and running. It was the Higurashi family responsibility, just as it had been for who knew how many years…

With a sigh I flipped open the scrapbook and faced my family of years ago—a family that I missed _so_ much, but who I couldn't join for a long time still…we were separated in more ways than time now…

We were also separated by death.

* * *

_(One decade and five hundred years ago…)_

"Why is it you're always **so** slow, bitch?" Inuyasha raged at her, ears flicking in what she took to be aggravation or irritation, but in reality it was excitement and nervousness.

"Why do you insist on calling me names? Maybe if you treated me a little better, Inuyasha," she challenged him with her eyes, "I would be quicker. After all, why would **anyone** want to come back to this era with you acting like such a jackass?"

She was holding her backpack, full of the goodies and trinkets her world possessed. Inuyasha was just as fond of cho-co-lit and can-dee as Shippo was—and not to mention the lovely fragrance of Ramen never failed to make his stomach churn with anticipatory glee—but it wasn't the food he was so eager to secure.

It was Kagome.

And at the moment he knew she was upset with him, which didn't surprise him considering that their fight before she'd left had been pretty substantial and had led to her spending three whole days away. But unlike on other occasions when she might've simply ignored him or stormed off, now he knew, or rather he _sensed_ that this time she would go right back to her own world…

He growled at her, "You _should_ hurry—bitch—you know how close we are! And instead of do the _right_ thing you just flap your jaws at me and take a vacation."

Tensions in their group of Shard-hunters had been very high lately. The entire Sacred Jewel was almost complete. Kagome kept it, on a strong-silvered chain about her neck. Since they'd collected Naraku's half they estimated only four or five shards were left to go before the entire jewel was finished. Their quest would be over—well, except for the fact that Naraku was still alive and pursuing the jewel piece that he'd lost. Yet, without the power of the jewel helping him Naraku wasn't nearly the threat he'd been when they were younger and still new to the quest. In due time, as long as they were careful, the quest's two goals would be complete.

But although Inuyasha thirsted for that completion he also dreaded it. Kagome had turned 17 recently, he knew, and had entered some of her last and most serious years of schooling in her world. She was drawn away from them more and more. The demands of her society in the future remained compelling. Soon, Inuyasha had realized, she would be nothing more than a memory to him and the others. She would stop traveling through time, relinquish her hold on the Shikon jewel and become an ordinary woman of her own era.

The realization made the hanyou sick to his stomach. He couldn't deny it, and he didn't really blame her. His era was dangerous and wild. Hers was loud, polluted and otherwise on the whole very safe. It was also comfortable. No hard floors, no sleeping outside with the rocks drilling into your spine.

There were also no strange half-demons in her world that couldn't bring themselves to accept their feelings for her…there were only pure blooded mortals vying for her attention, openly and simply. He knew that Kagome was beginning to feel annoyed with his lack of intimacy with her, his immaturity. The humans in her world, and the demons in his own, were starting to look more promising, certainly easier to get along with…

"Inuyasha!" she screamed, shaking with anger and frustration, "_Don't call me that!"_

They'd known each other more than three years and there'd never been more than a few instances of closeness. A time when she kissed him to save him from his inner demon, a time when they'd hugged to comfort each other, a time when they held hands in silent kinship. But there had never been official words, never a formality to assure her of his feelings; nothing was ever out in the open.

He'd always wanted to change that, but never had the courage…until the jewel had become so nearly complete…

"But, damn it woman," his ears folded backward, "That's what you are!"

It was as if the nearly complete jewel that hung on her neck had done something to enhance everything about her that drove him crazy. Her scent was so strong that when he lingered by the well while she was gone, he could scent her 500 years into the future if she was anywhere nearby. Before he'd had an acute sense of what her feelings were by analyzing both her scent and her body language. Now he didn't need to be looking at her at all—scent alone could tell him everything he needed to know with few exceptions. And sometimes, just _sometimes_, he was able to hear her thoughts whisper in his head. At first he'd thought he was going insane—and sometimes he still thought that was the case because the voices weren't always Kagome's, often it was something else, a thing that he thought might've been his own instincts talking to him. At other times he knew that these voices were Kagome's thoughts.

And at this moment he knew that the latter was indeed true—the things that he heard whispered in his head were Kagome's thoughts. And he forced himself to remain stoically silent as he heard them pass through, even though, deep within his ribcage he felt his heart constrict, his lungs tighten with a black terror…

_(Why do I even try anymore? All we're ever going to do is fight. He never shows me his soft side, even though we both know he has it. Why do I kid myself? I should just go home now, leave Sango with the jewel or something. I mean, once it's finished anyway I'm just going to have to leave anyway…Inuyasha isn't right for me. I don't know why I ever thought he was…)_

Aloud to him she sneered with sudden ferocity, "Well then, I suppose I should call you what you are then huh? If that's the way it's going to be I'll just call you jerk from now on!"

The hanyou snarled at her silently, but he said nothing, not even "Feh." Instead he crossed the short distance between himself and the wooden well that held the girl currently in its mouth. With one clawed, deadly hand, he grabbed her backpack and tossed it across the meadow.

She stared as it soared through the air and cringed when it landedheavily, painfully almost. She was about to turn back to the half-demon that she called "friend," and yell at him, maybe even say her most favorite word, when she felt sharp claws prick her skin through her skimpy school uniform, right around her waist. She screamed when he lifted her high into the air, certain that she was about to join her backpack some fifty feet away, embedded into the ground like a fossil. She opened her mouth and was about to scream _it_, her favorite word, when she felt her stomach slam into his hard, strong shoulder.

The impact was rougher than he'd meant it to be and she choked, the air forced from her lungs in a terrible whoosh. She gasped and choked, inhaling deeply to take back what she'd lost. "You _jerk!_" she screamed when she had the air to do it, "Put me DOWN!"

"Nope, sorry bitch. I'm not going to let you go back to your own time, not now. You're staying with me."

She screamed behind him, her mouth right at his ear, and he sensed that she was about to restrain him with her subduing word…hurriedly he pulled her down from his shoulder and carried her bridal style instead. "There, bitch." He chuckled sarcastically, ears dancing and twisting on top of his head nervously, "Now if you sit me you'll be trapped right along with me!"

She made a growl that was distinctly inhuman. He'd certainly made her mad _this_ time! She struggled, continuing to voice her emotions with animal-like growls and snarls. Against his will Inuyasha found himself _wishing_ that she _had_ sat him so he could innocently have pinned her below him, because with the sounds—which spoke to his own animal side fluently and commandingly—she was making he wanted to pin her anyway…but his human side made him cautious, made him hesitate. Such an advance had to be done in the right mood…

Of course he'd already taken to one clearly inuyoukai mating tradition—the use of the word _bitch._ A male inuyoukai often called a female relative or companion "wench." Early in his knowing Kagome he'd called her this, signifying her non-romantic involvement with him. She was not a mate, but she _was_ someone that he had to protect and watch over, and she was, strangely enough, slightly more than the others in his eyes. The others understood this—Sango was familiar with many demon habits, as her career required her to be, Miroku knew less in some instances, but being male he could easily sense when he was going too far within another male's territory, whether the male was hanyou, human, demon or whatever.

Recently though, he'd caught himself calling her not _wench,_ or _girl,_ or Kagome, but _bitch._ When the term was used by an inuyoukai male it signaled his interest in her romantically as a mate. It announced to others that he considered her _his_, and that unless she didn't accept him for some reason, they would be bound together as mates. He was using it as if it were a synonym for _mate, _or _love._ In his inuhanyou male's world it _was_ a synonym for those things…but to Kagome's people and to inuyoukai females who referred to other females that they disliked, the term was an insult, and Inuyasha knew this. That was why he kept using it without embarrassment…

Suddenly he was drawn away from his own musings just as he had reached the edge of the forest, Kagome still in his arms struggling…she'd apparently regained the use of her linguistic skills, recovered from her rage, and was going to sit him no matter the consequences to herself…he felt her tense in his arms, could smell her abrupt anticipation. She was stealing herself for the impact and his huge weight on her. As she struggled one of her feet slipped away from his arms and the change in balance made Inuyasha stumble…her other leg fell free as well, but the hanyou clutched one shoulder and her waist to hold her where she was, just as—

"SIT!" Kagome screamed triumphantly while at the same time trying to push away from him to avoid—she was too late.

Inuyasha's body crashed downward, pushing her below him. They hit the ground; Kagome's body squarely below the hanyou's, his hand still on her shoulder and waist. The wind pressed from both of their lungs, compressed from the impact. In the wake of it both gasped—like lovers after a very intense honeymoon—desperately replenishing their lungs of the lost oxygen.

Inuyasha recovered first, his dizziness making the world swirl crazily for a moment. Then he blinked, took in a second deep breath, and felt himself shiver involuntarily at it. _Her scent…_the air he needed to breathe was saturated with everything that was _Kagome,_ and Inuyasha both loved and feared the feeling of warmth that it spread through him.

Kagome was still recovering, but he could already sense her anger at the situation and her—wait…he sniffed again, deeply, slowly, hoping she didn't notice…her excitement?

One of her thoughts fizzled through his mind, loud and shivering.

_(Oh my—! He's **on top** of me! If he just…if I just…this is ridiculous! Inuyasha would never be attracted to me or think anything of this position at all—he thinks Kikyo's the one for having sex with…icky! Icky! Dead women…what the **hell** is wrong with him!)_

Somehow her thoughts—filled with repulsion and disgust—echoed what his own mind and body felt at the same thought. While she'd been alive Inuyasha had been attracted to the priestess it was true—but never as much as he had been for Kagome. Kagome was twice as alive as Kikyo had _ever_ been!

_And she isn't from your era, and she doesn't want you anymore—you idiot! You waited too long…_

Indeed, he could smell the mixed messages her scent was giving him and that same dark terror bloomed in his gut again. Was it true? Had he waited too long? But it couldn't be true! He _needed_ her, wanted her at his side…wanted her as his _mate…_

He drew in a deep, slow breath, analyzing her scent carefully, and realized, with something of a shock, that the spell had worn off enough for him to get off her. When he looked toward her face he saw her deep, dark eyes—_so beautiful!—_and in them he saw something shining, a part of her soul perhaps. In it he saw _hope_. It sparkled like the stars at night, like light reflecting from pools of water.

Her scent surrounded him, enchanted him, and seemed to keep him immobile, as if he'd been chained to the ground. Inuyahsa could smell something _new_ in her scent that was swiftly overpowering most of the other things within her natural perfume—and it made him dizzy all over again.

It was desire.

And although he could scarcely believe the situation, Inuyasha felt his own body responding to the warmth and the softness of hers below him. Before he could stop it he felt heat erupt all over him—but in particular it was on his face, burning like a fire. Her thoughts tickled his again, startling him into blinking.

_(Is that a blush? It is! Why would he blush…it can't be that…he isn't thinking of…no this can't be happening!)_

But her thoughts—and her scent—told him that she wanted it too, she wasn't protesting, she reciprocated. If _only_ he had the courage to ask her to stay with him. When the Jewel was complete, when Naraku was dead, when the quest was over and the danger passed…immediately his heart squeezed with emotional pain. He had to fight the urge his muscles had to quiver with it.

_It'll never be safe here like it is in her world…I could never ask her to do such a thing. I love her too much…_

Even as he struggled to hide his sudden distress and to force himself away from her, despite her rich, alluring scent that permeated even his very soul, the situation grew even worse. The schoolgirl below him, driven by her sudden, frenzied hope, reached for him, her hands cupping his cheeks. For a split second Inuyasha gawked at her, golden eyes wide and stupefied, and then his thoughts were wiped away by sensation as she pulled his face close to hers and their lips met.

She tasted even better than she smelled. With this type of contact he could _taste_ her emotions, read her like a book. Instinct and sensation overwhelmed him, and the desire burning inside him doubled, tripled in the time it took any mortal to blink. He shifted his position, taking his weight off her slightly, and brought the hand that was on her waist tickling up her arm. When her lips against his became more heated, and her scent as well as her taste became thick with arousal, Inuyasha had no doubt: it wasn't too late, Kagome wouldn't reject him as her mate, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her…

But it wasn't right! He couldn't endanger her by asking such a thing!

Kagome's arms were around his neck, her hands playing on the muscles of his back and shoulders. As much as he knew he wanted to stay within those arms, as much as he loved the taste of her, the feel of her lips working against his own, and the scent of her desire overrunning everything else within her—Inuyasha pulled away from her. He hovered over her, face-to-face, so close that he could feel her breath whispering on his face, on his lips. He searched her eyes, feeling sadness and regret replace the tension and intimacy of the moment. Her eyes were wide and shining, perplexed. He knew that she was wondering why he'd pulled away, what was wrong…

"Oh…I'm sorry…"

The voice sent both Inuyasha and Kagome straight to their feet, and a good ten feet away from one another. They pretended their faces weren't burning up with a feverish blush at having been caught in such an intimate position, but it was easy enough to see. Neither dared make an open glance at the other, instead they looked as benignly as possible to their intruder.

That intruder, or rather, the intruder_s_, were nothing less than Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kilala. The monk was openly smirking at them both while Sango was sharing a knowing look with Kagome. The voice that had disturbed them was Miroku's.

Shippo crossed his arms over his small chest and made a sighing noise, "It about time, you two!"

Inuyasha immediately stomped forward, growling and Shippo screeched and jumped to Sango's shoulder where he cringed, praying that Inuyasha wouldn't risk hitting Sango to smack him. His bet was right and the hanyou growled in frustration, walking past the kitsune, the nekoyoukai, the demon slayer, and the still smirking monk, scowling heavily.

"Nothing happened!" he snarled without turning, "The bitch just sat me on top of her!"

"Yea, right onto your lips Inuyasha." Miroku snorted, unimpressed with the hanyou's reluctance to admit to what had really happened.

"_She_ did that, not me!" Inuyasha growled, pointing when he whirled to face five accusing glares, Kagome's included. Seeing the outrage in her eyes beginning to bloom he hated himself for the next words that sprung out, "Bitch must be in heat or something!"

Kagome's face looked abruptly stricken and Inuyasha felt his ears droop, but he kept the scowl on his face and turned away. If he had to look at Kagome's face much longer he was sure he'd blurt out the truth. _I just don't want you to get hurt because I love you…_

"Whatever, you _asshole!"_ Kagome shouted behind him, and Inuyasha cringed when he sensed the next part coming immediately afterward, "Sit, sit, Sit, SIT!"

Before anyone could stop her Kagome turned and raced back to the well, trying to bite back her tears. She heard the others calling her but blocked them out. _I don't want to be here anymore…_ she reached the well and gripped the side, briefly squeezing with her silent rage before she flung herself up and over the wooden edge and into the dark…

She landed on the solid dirt of the dried out well, and looked up. Immediately she felt fear and alarm shoot through her.

_The sky, I can see the sky still…there's no well house!_

She hadn't gone anywhere…or rather, more accurately, any _time… _

_Endnote: _Here's where I thank reviewers and answer questions...this is the only time I get to just yak to myself here...feels weird...well, tell me what you think so far! I have to update "Somebody's Waiting For Me" too so I can't linger here long (and lazily I just trusted my typing in WORD to be accurate rather than rereading...I'm sorry! Yes I should be skewered alive and barbequed!) If anyone hates it write in and tell me and I'll stop (whimpers) next chapter is darker and angrier. Kagome is tweaking (as I expect she would, i know I would!) out about the well and she takes it out on Inuyasha, and he doesn't help any with his incessantname calling...anyway...gotta go, all comments are welcome!


	2. Realization

**Disclaimer:** Nope I do not own IY

**A/N:** Okay, let's see, where to start? The mom's story isn't all recollections and emotons and stuff...her side WILL have plot...but I can't tell you what just yet...ah yes, there's more swearing in this one than in my others...I am nota person who uses curses like this in my own language, but the characters might, under the right circumstances. So Inuyasha says, "Bitch," A LOT! (but we all know what it secretly means...) and Kagome gets really mad at him and swears back. I drop the f-bomb once, just once...that's why it's rated R (or M or whatever) right at this moment...I knew the language would be coarse...I hope that that doesn't bother anyone too much...I always listen to reviewers so if you have anything to say, ANYthing at all, by all means, write me a review and tell me about it...also there's a lot more Miroku Sango tension in this story, a lot more than most of mine...I'm starting to warm up to their antics and get better at writing them...so I hope to make you laugh with that b/c those two ARE funny...(grins) anyway, my thanks to reviewers at the end...by the way, the quote is from the band Evanesscense or however you spell the stupid thing...grr! You know, the band that made "Bring Me To Life," and "My Immortal" popular. Kay...on with the story!

**

* * *

****Realization**

_(…I know you can hear me—I can taste it in your tears…)_

It was just after nine o'clock when the phone rang. I threw Ashi off my lap and rushed to get the thing. Answering it I covered the mouthpiece and cleared my throat, trying to cover the thickness that crying always gives a person's voice. I knew ahead of time that it'd be futile, but I had to try anyway.

Forcing on a smile, as if it could prove my state of mind to my throat and larynx, I spoke into the phone, "Hello?"

"Mom." I knew the voice right away and sighed with relief, the façade gone as fast as it'd come up.

"Souta! Oh honey, I'm so glad you called!" already I could feel the tears creeping in again, making the little tremble in my voice terrible like an earthquake. I was sure Souta had heard it, but he made no comment about it, and although I sensed the strain in his voice he was under careful control himself as well.

"Mom, are you all right? Do you want me to come and stay with you at home for a few days?"

Inside I wanted to scream how much I did, how much I missed him, his company, his smile, but I didn't dare. Souta was grown now; I couldn't very well cling to him, now could I? I'd stifle his growth. I had to let him go…no matter how much it hurt me to do it.

There is a point at which parents and children exchange places. I had raised Souta into the young man that was speaking with me in such tight, careful concern. Yet, although I had dried his baby tears, changed his dirty diapers, and washed his clothes for many long years, I didn't want him to have to do that for me. It was a silent pride in being a parent. I wanted to see my son succeed and grow, I didn't want to still be changing those diapers, and I didn't want him to be burdened with taking care of me in any way. One day it might happen anyway. Souta might care for me just as I had cared for my father. By then I would accept it with age, and with the need for continued human companionship. But not now…not yet.

I shook my head into the receiver, even though I knew full well that my son couldn't see the motion. "No, I don't need that. I survived when your daddy died, Souta," at her sides her hands balled into fists of determination, "And I will survive this too. It'd be nice, I admit, to have your company, but I'm okay."

He paused before answering me; I could see him looking around the room in my mind's eyes, seeking something impartial to land his gaze on, something that wouldn't care that he stared in his inner turmoil. "Are you sure, Mom? You know it's _not_ a trouble for me. I have a few days off. It's only a few hours drive…" he left it open, fishing for my opinion. He was already feeling like retuning to the "nest" was a sin. He probably would tell none of his friends where he was going, especially if they were large, bulky, athletic types. I knew Souta was always working to impress, always determined to get somewhere with others. I didn't want to ruin that.

"I told you Souta, I'm a little lonely without Gramps here," _Alittle?_ The damned voice inside me whispered, catching me in a lie, "But Ashi is still here…" _God knows where I'd end up if he weren't!_

"It's a _cat_, Mom." Souta snorted, "I'm coming. I'll be there by morning. Sound good to you?"

"In the morning?" I blinked, stunned by his ferocity, his tenaciousness. I hadn't a single suspicion that he was as bent on comforting me as he apparently was! "But you'd have to drive all night!" I protested, too weakly.

"That's okay, I can handle it," he even managed to sound cocky about it, and despite my tears and the raging grief within I was smiling too…that is until he spoke his next few words: "I can always pick up some sake to give me that zestful zing or something, you know, keep me awake…?" I could hear his smirk right through the phone, clear as daylight.

"Don't you dare! If you didn't crash on your way over here and die then _I'd_ kill you once you got here."

"Yea, I love you too Mom." He chuckled, and immediately I snapped my lips closed. _I hope he knows I couldn't ever do anything like that…if I did then I'd **really** be alone, not to mention I'd be a murderer…_I shook the ridiculous thoughts off and cleared my throat.

"You just be careful, okay Souta? Drive safe…and don't rush…promise me?" I felt my heart constrict a little, remembering my mother and husband, how easy it was for lives to be snuffed out…a simple trip to get groceries, a tired trucker, trying to switch the radio station, crossing the centerline…lives destroyed…

I blinked the tears away, "You _do_ promise me, right?" we'd always been skittish of cars since that accident. I took the bus to work myself; living in the midst of Tokyo makes it easier to get around. The bus stops are so close together that almost every corner will pick a waiting woman up. Part of what had made me feel so terrible about Souta's absence was that he was so far away, and that he _drove_ to get from place to place.

I sensed him rolling his eyes, "Yes, Mom, don't be such a worry wart. I'll be there before you know it. Go to sleep for a while and, hey, when I get there, be ready, we'll clean out the shrine, how about it?"

He couldn't have known how much that reminded me of his grandfather, my father. Despite the pain inside I smiled and said, "Sure, you and I both know it needs it!"

"Okay…" I sensed his mood softening, and I felt more tears—where did they all come from!—springing to my eyes, "Mom, I love you. Never forget that. Gramps loved you too, and Grandma too…and Dad." Souta had been far too young when the accident occurred to remember his father properly, but he knew—because I reminded him every so often over and over as is a mother's habit—that he both looked and acted just like his father. Light, cheerful, playful, kind-hearted and just a bit immature…yes, a lot like his father, who I missed so much…

I tried to blink back the tears and to hide them from my voice but I knew it wouldn't work, "I love you too Souta—but you protect yourself, okay? You're—" I choked on my own words, "—all I have now…"

"Naw, you have that vicious Siamese, what's his name? Atashi? Alli? Atkins…?"

I laughed, despite myself, "Ashi, Souta, and I know you know that, because _you_ named him!"

"Yea, I remember," he chuckled, "He has the coolest eyes, blue like…" he stopped himself, but not soon enough. We both immediately soured, the unspoken name hovering between us, for all the trouble it caused it might as well have been screamed…

"Yes, I know." And I _hated_ it. I _hated_ seeing that beautiful Siamese's gorgeous blue eyes, glowing like marbles in his shadowy, whiskered face. I _hated_ thinking about _him…_

"You know, Mom," Souta suddenly spoke, his voice nervous and tense, "I don't think that it's _his_ fault."

"He can come through that well too…" I snapped, hating the roughness of my own voice, it didn't even sound like me, it was too bitter, too angry… "And he never came to tell us _anything…_"

"What if he couldn't?"

I blinked, the thought having never crossed my mind before. "Why wouldn't he?"

"What if he's dead…what if the magic that let them go through stopped?" I imagined him shrugging amiably as he spoke, "Anything could explain it."

"No," I refused to believe that, I knew full well what made sense when we were speaking about that wretched, most hated hanyou, "You have always hated thinking about him negatively, but you were so young still…" I sighed, prusing my lips, how could I get him to see? "Have you ever seen a man be so possessive that he'll beat the girl to scare her away from other men? Even if they're just friends, even if they're younger than she is, even if they're family…he might even become jealous of her _female_ friends! You've seen that, right?"

I heard Souta sigh, hating the thought but knowing it was true, "Yes, but—"

"Well, that's the way Kagome told me _he_ was. He loved her but couldn't admit to it. He _hated_ it when she left to see us…"

"Mom, that's _not_ true! Inuyasha loved us too!" he fairly shouted it into the phone at me and I felt my throat tighten, I had trouble breathing. _He said the bastard's name…_

Souta sensed his mistake, I heard him sigh into the phone, "Look Mom, let's not talk about it, okay? I'll be there in the morning…"

"Okay, goodbye Souta, I love you, drive safely."

"Yea, Mom, I will." And the line went dead.

I put the phone down I its cradle, moving in slow motion. Souta was angry with me, angry that I refused to see any other possibility short of the obvious: the hanyou from 500 years in the past kept my daughter, Souta's older sister, from ever leaving him. _Ever_. Thus she was effectively dead, living and dying 500 years from me and the rest of her family. Gramps and I had both believe the same thing: it was Inuyasha's fault. But Souta, who idealized Inuyasha from the beginning, refused, albeit silently, to believe that his hero, the great dog-eared hanyou, would be so cruel.

But reality doesn't paint things nicely, it doesn't spare our loved ones, or us, no matter how young or old or weak or strong, from its grim facts. People are flawed. They make mistakes. My daughter's mistake was that she fell in love, and tolerated, a half-demon's terrible behavior. And she lost her family, and likely, her life for it…for _him._ I didn't think she was deserving of such a fate. Thinking about it made my insides quiver with rage.

And there was nothing I could do. None of us could go through the well—in my desperation I checked with all of us, even carrying the cat to the bottom to be sure. But the truth was that only my daughter had the ability, only she and the hanyou had the magic…

I had always believed my father's thoughts on it—blaming Inuyasha and Inuyasha only. But Souta's points _were_ possible…

Frustrated, I walked back up the stairs and set aside the scrapbook with its tortuous memories of a time long ago when everyone was happy, and no one was alone…instead I went to the bookshelf and grabbed one of my favorite books, sat on my bed and started to read.

Yes, if one couldn't escape their grief for at least brief moments their lives would become completely miserable. I read that romance novel until midnight, imagining the brave, stoic, handsome hero as Souta so that I could laugh at his success…yes, if only my son would marry and give me some grandchildren, then this house wouldn't be so empty or dark or lonely anymore…

The cat fell asleep in my lap, purring, a little mobile heater. The house squeaked and settled and clicked. And for a while, just a tiny little while, I forgot about the pain and the loneliness, and I knew, somewhere inside, that everything was going to be okay.

I wasn't going to be alone forever…

* * *

"What do you mean it didn't work?" Sango blinked as the schoolgirl climbed clumsily from the well. As her face reentered the bright Feudal era sunshine all of them cringed slightly, seeing the dried streaks of tears from her recent tears. The idiot, Inuyasha, was some feet away, barely recovered from his recent bout of "sitting" getting to his feet while spitting away dirt and grass from his mouth. 

Miroku's staff jangled as he rested it against one shoulder, his fingers reached his chin and stroked, pensively. Sango risked a glance his way, and was immediately taken with the monk's gorgeous violet eyes, his cool, calm reserve, something that she, with her warrior's instinct, found _very_ alluring. The monk was her opposite, and ye gods was it true that they were attracted! She burned with barely concealed anger when he flirted with a girl, while he, in return, left her so much space when there was another man in her life that she doubted he cared…it was all rather baffling, but at the same time intriguing and Sango hated to acknowledge it, even in the relative safety of her own mind, but she was crazy about him…

And at the moment she was noticing the little tuft of deep black hair that was trying to sprout like spring grass on his chin, and she thought with another blink, _he and I aren't getting any younger…_ the little hair was a new appearance—a sign that he was banishing any last signs of adolescence. Men only got hairier with age after all…

She wondered absently if Inuyasha would ever grow anything like a beard—did inuyoukai and inuhanyou even get facial hair at all? She almost turned round to look at the hanyou in curiosity but at that moment Miroku cleared his throat, recapturing her attention.

"You have the shards?" the monk asked, eyeing Kagome critically.

The schoolgirl, now thoroughly out of the well, looked as if she would scream "Sit," to try and subdue Miroku for his stupid question, but she only frowned, "Duh!"

"Is that a yes?" Miroku asked, one eyebrow quirked.

Kagome buried her face in her hands. "This isn't happening…" she moaned.

From behind them Inuyasha made his trademark noise, "Feh," and crossed his arms sourly, "You'd better open your eyes then bitch—because I'm pretty damn sure that you sat me and jumped into that bloody well but you're still here, _sadly…_"

She looked up at him, flames dancing in her eyes, enraged. "SIT!"

Inuyasha splattered into the ground with a grunt of pain, his limbs tangled and twisted underneath him. "Bitch!" he spluttered through a mouthful of dirt.

"SIT, _Inuyasha!"_ Kagome snarled again, and the hanyou was pressed with suffocating force into the dry dirt and grass.

"Okay," Miroku began again, "Let's try everything." He slowed his voice, as if talking to a child, "Kagome, please give me the shards."

She frowned, hands going to her hips, "Why?" she asked, incredulous.

"If the well refuses to work with them, then maybe it's choosing to work without them now…" when his lame explanation was met with skeptical glances by the two women and a confused kitsune, Miroku shrugged helplessly, "We have to try everything, ladies…"

On Sango's shoulder Shippo cleared his throat, "Ahem?"

Miroku blinked a moment and then dipped his head, acknowledging the kit, "And youkai," he murmured.

"That's better." Shippo huffed.

Miroku looked back to Kagome and held out his hand, the left one, not the right. He was rather particular with which hand he used in dealing with friends or important objects. He cradled the staff with his cursed right. His gaze on Kagome was sharp and expectant.

Although she thought it was stupid, and thoroughly hopeless, Kagome stepped forward and slipped the chain that held the mostly complete jewel from around her neck and set it into Miroku's waiting hand. The monk closed his fingers around it carefully and bowed slightly. "Thank you Lady Kagome." He gestured then toward the well, "Give it another try."

Sighing, Kagome turned and jogged back toward the well. She paused once again, gripping the wooden rim, her fingers bleaching white with her nervous pressure on them. _Please, pretty, pretty **please** work for me! Please! I can't be stranded here, I just **can't **be…_with a little hop she hurled herself over the rim and into the darkness. For a moment her heart lifted, she thought she sensed the well's magic encircling her body, welcoming her. She almost cried out that Miroku had been right…but then she landed on the solid dirt, and breathing hard with anticipation and desperate hope, she looked upwards…

And squinted in the sunlight.

No well house…no magic, no time travel…

No Higurashi family…

Fighting the tears of despair she climbed out of the well again, trying to look brave despite the fact that her knees were starting to wobble in terror. _What if I **am** stuck here? What will I do? How can I survive…**what will my family think when I never come back!**_

She pulled herself back out into the sunlight to see her friends gathered around Inuyasha, who was still sitting, arms and legs crossed, feet and hands hidden under his red robes. The hanyou's ears were folded back, his golden eyes flashed with anger and irritation. She barely managed to catch the last of what they were saying before she felt suddenly sick and a tremor in her fingers almost made her let go and plunge back into the dark, useless depths of the well.

"It's happened before then." Sango was saying, eyes on Inuyasha.

"Yes! But it wasn't the same that time! That time _I_ took the shards from her and pushed her stupid butt down the well…" the hanyou looked a little helpless, pinned under all the stares of his friends, the monk, the demon slayer, Kilala and Shippo. All of them were accusing him somehow, and he looked uncomfortable. Inuyasha had tried to prevent Kagome from leaving or coming back before—was he responsible now somehow?

"And now she has the shards…" Miroku looked back over his shoulder and saw Kagome meekly trying to pull herself from the well. His face fell. "Well our first try failed—but that's nothing to be sad about!" his staff jangled merrily and he smiled, but it was fake.

Kagome felt as if she might throw up. _This isn't happening. This just isn't happening. If I just try again with the shards it'll work, it **has** to…I **can't** be stranded here…I **can't** be!_

"Inuyasha!" Miroku turned back to the irritated hanyou, who immediately sneered at the monk's tone.

"What now, hentai?" he snarled.

"It's your turn. Let's see if it will let _you_ go through…with the shards first." He held out his left hand invitingly, the large, mostly round gem shined purple inside it, twinkling in is golden eyes. Inuyasha could feel it calling to him, could feel his demon powers humming to its call. He hesitated, his face blank but his soul squirming nervously. When Miroku pushed the hand closer to him Inuyasha forced a scowl of irritation to cover his features, hiding the fear that was buried in his amber eyes. His clawed hand snatched the necklace away, clutched it with an angry intensity.

They burned in his hand almost knowingly. _Inuyasha…_ they whispered, promising power, but he steeled his soul against its call and rose to his feet, staring steadfastly pas the others, straight at the well.

Kagome was pulling herself out like a mindless beast, lost, dazed and confused. His heart tightened seeing her like that—where was the fiery girl that he loved? _That damned well had better work for her…_

He leapt forward, not bothering to do what the mortals had to with their weak, simple legs. He covered the distance in one jump, landing a foot shy of the well's rim where Kagome was floundering. He stretched out the hand that wasn't clutching the jewel. "C'mon, bitch," he whispered, and despite his words his voice was soft, "Take my hand, I'll help you out…"

She looked up at him, her eyes dark with emotion, dark with pain. He wanted to look away but couldn't bring himself to do it. The hand remained in the air, untouched, unaccepted…

And suddenly her face warped, twisted, until it became an angry snarl, a sneer that disgraced her beauty. The shock of it made him wince, like the sight of blood does to most mortals.

"You asshole!" she shouted, suddenly pulling herself out of the well, with seemingly no effort at all, "I don't need _your_ help." They eyed each other viciously for a moment, and for the first time Inuyasha realized, with a jolt, that he could still smell her so acutely, _still_ sense her emotions…and, just as he wondered silently about it one of her thoughts skidded lightly through his mind.

_(I can't be stuck here without my family, I **can't** be! I **can't** be stuck here with **him…**)_

He flinched and reflexively his hand tightened over the shards, and then it hit him anew—_she wasn't wearing the damn gem…the Shikon Jewel's power has **nothing** to do with whatever's happening between us…_

"What the _hell_ are you staring at!" Kagome shouted, bristling with anger, her eyes screaming obscenities at him, her thoughts whispering inside his mind, too many to understand. He wanted them quiet, thought as much, and, abruptly, there was silence.

He closed and withdrew his proffered hand with a sneer of forced hate. She flinched with the suddenness of his movement and, although he sensed her emotions suddenly changing, mixing, like a puddle someone has stepped into, stirring up the mud, he stepped past her and leapt into the well.

The others, watching this scene, silently shook their heads in something between disgust and worry. Why couldn't Inuyasha and Kagome get along? Three years of life and death situations, three years of hunting the shards, three years of hunting and fearing Naraku, three years of "Sit!" and "Kagome!" but still they hadn't gotten past screaming insults. Still there was, particularly in the recent months, a tight tension between them both that Miroku and Sango understood quite well themselves—but unlike their companions they knew how to remain civil. Inuyasha and Kagome couldn't seem to keep from biting each other's heads off. Attracted or not, there was no peace…

But this was the first time they'd seen it be so bad. Why were they at one another's throats? Kagome was stressed at the thought that she might be stuck away from her family—that was understandable. Inuyasha was probably still mad at her for sitting him. But he'd offered her help—something that usually made the girl happy and acted as a silent apology. But something was different this time…

Worriedly, Sango turned and nudged Miroku with her elbow. The monk blinked and looked away from the well where Kagome was peering over the edge of the well, searching the darkness of its depths with a frown. "Yes my Sango?" he purred, though his eyes only lingered on her a second before looking to the well again where Kagome was yelling in exasperation.

"It didn't work for you either!"

"No, it didn't, bitch! Duh!" answered Inuyasha's low growl.

"Asshole!" she shrieked, hands on her head, but Sango, Shippo, Miroku and even Kilala all locked their eyes on the schoolgirl's face, startled by the pain that was clearly showing there for a swift second before it twisted and became rage again. "Get your little doggy butt up here now so I can try it again!"

"Miroku," Sango whispered with a sad frown on her face, which the monk wanted to kiss away tenderly, but restrained himself, _later._ "If she's stuck here with us…with _him_…" her chocolaty brown eyes locked with Miroku's deep, handsome violet ones, "With no escape…" she gulped, "They'll kill each other."

The monk sighed. "I know it doesn't look very good my Sango, but…" he snapped his jaw shut, not sure what positive thing he could tell her, especially considering that the scene before him was growing steadily worse.

"Bitch!" Inuyasha shrieked, fighting with Kagome now that he was mostly out of the well. The schoolgirl had grabbed hold of his closed fist where the shards were kept and was trying to pry open his fingers. "Stop it before I—"

"Do anything and I'll say it!" she threatened, still picking his fingers open.

"Bitch!" he leapt from the well, pushing her away. Kagome landed in the dust, her small skirt flying around her, the brown of the dirt staining both the fabric and her legs. She squeaked with surprise and pain, both emotional and physical. Trembling suddenly bit her lip, her eyes tearing up. The dark eyes jerked his way, dangerously enraged.

"Inuyasha!" she shouted. The hanyou was some five feet away, the fused shards that formed the partially completed jewel dangling from his clawed hand. "Give me the _fucking_ shards!" the moment the words escaped her mouth she looked slightly stunned, one hand hovered over her lips, as if confused. She'd never sworn so vehemently before, always been called a good girl…now what would her mother think if she could see her little girl now? She stared up at Inuyasha with a mixture of anger, hate, and pain.

The hanyou returned that gaze, except that his was laced with far less obvious pain. He refused to show her weakness, even though his stomach felt as if it'd shrunk to be smaller than his fist. _Gods, I think I'm going to be sick…_

"Say _please_, bitch…" he ordered, curtly, sarcastically. The shards dangled, sparkling before his face, bright purple and luminous. They still called to his soul, _use us, use us…Inuyasha!_

"_Please, _you asshole." She sneered.

Without hesitation the hanyou flicked the necklace toward her, and watched as she caught the trinket easily, pulling it back over her head. He avoided looking at her then, choosing instead to walk away, the expression on his face hard and cold. Miroku, Sango, Shippo, and even Kilala were staring at him, stunned at the hatred the former friends were throwing at each other. When he noticed their stares he snarled at them as a whole and shouted, "What the hell are you four staring at! I told you there was something wrong with the bitch earlier!" he pointed, rudely, back at the well and Kagome, who was still picking herself up from where Inuyasha had knocked her down.

There were tears streaming down her cheeks when she'd risen to her feet and was regarding the four neutral friends and the one big, stupid, rude, arrogant, jackass named Inuyasha. Before she could stop herself she raised one trembling hand, pointed her index finger like a witch casting a spell, and shouted in her teary, wavering voice, "_You're my problem Inuyasha! You're what's wrong with me! I hope I **never** see you again!"_

Inuyasha stopped mid step, glad that he was already beyond the piercing, accusing stares of Miroku, Sango, Shippo and even little Kilala. He really felt as if he were going to be sick. His eyes closed and he took a few laborious breaths…and then walked onward until he'd reached the edge of the trees. Then, without turning back, he leapt into their branches and disappeared.

In the meadow Kagome collapsed, as if her rage had been all that fueled her muscles, as if she were a boneless fish. Her hands covered her face as she started to openly sob in misery.

Stunned, Miroku, Sango and Shippo exchanged stunned glances. "This isn't any good for anyone…" Miroku muttered, his face grave.

"They can't fight like this…" Shippo whimpered, and before they could stop him the kitsune had leapt from Sango's shoulder and had crossed the meadow in little leaps and bounds. They watched as he clung to her feet and legs, rubbing his face against her bare skin there. To their surprise Kagome stopped sobbing for a moment to look at him before she scooped him up into a bear hug, lovingly, despite her grief. She started to sob anew even as little Shippo tried to comfort her.

"We've got to help the poor thing…" Sango whispered, shaking her head. Kilala Mewed at her feet, apparently agreeing.

Miroku's face was still tight, strained, and grave. "I'll speak to Inuyasha." His lips were pursed in utter seriousness.

Sango threw him a nervous glance. "What will you say? Wouldn't he just slash you to pieces for questioning his cruelty to the poor girl?" she frowned sadly at the truth of that word, _cruelty. _"You know, if they're going to hate each other it's just going to happen that way, we can't stop them…" _And they used to be so civil with each other just a year or so ago…even just a few months ago!_

The monk shook his head, slowly. "That isn't right. Think about it, Sango." His eyes, the huge, handsome violet eyes, locked with her own, holding her there just as if he'd nailed her in place, "They've been close, been with each other for three years, they've known each other longer than we've known them or each other…"

"I know, but…" she sighed, "Houshi-sama, can't you see that girl crying out there? What she said about Inuyasha is probably true for her. She's loved him for so long but that bastard can't get over that stupid _dead_ miko…what's her name…" she frowned, fists clenching at Inuyasha's stupidity. _How could he hurt Kagome so much, and so often for someone that's been dead for 50 years?_ "He doesn't care about poor Kagome the way she _needs_ him to, and he never will…"

Miroku locked her gaze again, the violet eyes darker than usual, tinted with thought and emotion, "Rethink that my Sango, I'd bet you tonight's dinner that it isn't the least bit true."

The demon slayer looked as if she might slap him, "Then explain to me _why_ he treats her like _that._"

Miroku almost smirked, "I can do that…" he raised one hand, held it perpendicular to his body, as if about to pray or cast a spell, "All men handle courtship differently. I am very open with my heart." He lowered his head slightly, hiding his grin when Sango rolled her eyes cynically.

"Yes, we all _know_ that…"

"Yes, but Inuyasha doesn't think as I do—he doesn't even think like _any_ human or even like _any_ demon, but something in between—which is exactly what he is." His eyes became serious again, making her concentrate carefully, "I know little of inuyoukai customs or courtship rituals, but I'd say that, if inuyoukai are like other types of demons that I've studied, and animals for that matter, than they are likely to test potential mates using _aggression._"

Sango shook her head, considering but not yet accepting, "No, Miroku, _not_ like that…I'm sorry, _that_ was plain and simple hatred…"

"Yes, I'd agree that that was wrong, but think about Inuyasha's treatment of Kagome over the years. They've never _really_ gotten along. Not like you and I. They pick on each other, particularly Inuyasha bugging Kagome. He refuses to accept food she cooks for him, berates her when she leaves for home or when she's late, or even when she gets sick…"

"That's just a lack of compassion." Sango frowned, unimpressed by the monk's theory now.

"But, if that's true Sango my dear," Miroku smirked now, about to drive his point home, "Then wouldn't we _all_ be treated like that? Wouldn't he pick on _all_ of us as he does Kagome?"

The demon slayer blinked, realization trying to settle into her soul, her bones…_ Miroku might just be close to some sort of hidden truth…_ she cursed herself suddenly for having neglected her training concerning demon culture. She'd always specialized more in killing the mindless monsters rather than the advanced types like wolf youkai, panther demons, inuyoukai…but such information wasn't impossible to come by…

She looked at Miroku, "What do we do then?"

Miroku shifted the staff from his right to his left hand, making it jangle almost cheerily. "Well first of all we comfort Kagome…I have a theory about this well. Maybe she has to wait a while between trips—she only just got back before she tried to return to her time again after all. Then I'll talk to Inuyasha and you talk to Kagome." He smiled warmly and his right hand, the lecherously cursed hand, came to her waist, rubbing restlessly over the curve of her waist and hip. Sango's face broke out in an immediate blush as Miroku spoke again, "I trust you'll be able to find out what's going on between them, dear Sango…"

"Yes…" she slapped him then, the crash resounding from off the circle of trees around the meadow. "Now if only I could figure out what's going on between you and I." She growled, quickly leaving him alone with his red, hand-shaped wound, muttering to herself about perverts.

* * *

Endnote: I broke the single digits! YAY! that was my goal! THANK YOU! 

_**NefCanuck**_ Thank you! The first to review! You've been a loyal and dedicated reader and reviewer, (bows) I thank you very much! _**SerenaClearwater**_ sorry, I didn't know that it could upset you! I started another one b/c this idea wouldn't leave me alone and SWFM is almost over. I thought I could handle three, and so far I think I can...hope you warm to this one too! _**Ames-Chan**_ Thank you! I hope to make it even better! The two plots, one in the present one 500 years ago will soon tie in and you'll be, I hope, glued... _**Gasert**_ You wish is my command! And as Sango said here, she focused more on mindless demons, so right now the real expert is Miroku, but later she might come upon that bit of information, it would make a funny scene...(imagines it now) _**Yami-Yugi-Girl**_Thank you! _**sarah**_ Next chapter you start to get the first inklings of the answers to those questions...(winks) _**toxiclollipop**_ yes, what IS with that well? (smirks) hehe...you got the right question Toxic (winks)... _**osuwariboy**_ I hope that this time I can make you laugh a little more than last time eh? (realizes that last time the laugh count was none) you know how when there's a fight between friends or something, sometimes there's a mix of happy and sad in it? Like you can laugh at the stupidity of their fighting, or what they'd saying, but you're sadder and sadder as you realize that they're REALLY fighting. That's what I'm trying to paint here. Don't worry though, everything will (sorta anyway) work out well in the end!

I think I'm missing someone here but I don't know who...(pouts)...whoever I missed I'm VERY sorry! my email is swamped with reviews from SWFM and I can't sort through them all becuase reviews all look the same...(sighs)...no matter what story they're for they always come saying the same thing, you know? Review Alert! I can't tell without opening every single one...(sighs) and I need to get moving...but I do have time to find you a nice preview for the next chapter which is all about the past that time around...alot to tell there...less to tell with her mother and her brother...later there will be more though, (winks). Kay, a preview:

_But somehow, Miroku remained calm and unfazed by her heated passion. "Fate chose to bind us together using those events." He intoned, unemotionally. _

_Sango wanted to hit him, she shook visibly with her outrage at the thought, **"****Miroku**," she hissed dangerously, "How does **fate** plan to bring us closer together by keeping Kagome from her **family?**From her **time?"** Sango shook her head urgently, "She doesn't belong here! **It's wrong!"**_

Kay, that's it, until next time, gotta go!


	3. Confession

**Disclaimer:** I do NOT own Inuyasha...or the lyrics by Sara Mclachlin (I can't spell her last name and I'm too lazy to look it up! please only pity me, don't file a lawsuit!)

**A/N:** Well, I should be doing my homework but I just don't want to...this chapter is distinctly Mrs. Higurashi-less. Her story tends to take the backseat from time to time, mostly becuase the story from 500 years ago has a lot more to tell...It's taken me a little bit of time guys, but I've found the grander scale to this story...hehehe...if it works out properly this thing is going to be AWESOME! From the well's initial failure the group will venture to visit someone with authority on such things (read this chapter, you'll get it) and we shall see what _Fate_ and _Faith_ have to do with the well and the defeat of Naraku and the completion of the Shikon shards...Yes! If I'm up to it this story might just cover all those thing and more (sniggles)...but I'm not going to tell you anything else. Just read and be warned that things will likely move pretty quick...By the way, _Saishi_ means "clever man." Now on with the story...(a note to those who know me and are awaiting a WOAWO update: It's coming guys! It's coming! But I had this one ready sooner, and I'm so sleepy cuz last night I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 AM anbd I have homework tonight and there was this unexpected complication with a friend of mine suddenly hooking up with a guy I'm kinda fond of...so I'm sorry, I hope you guys can forgive me...(whimpers pleadingly)) Nuff said...onward ho!

**

* * *

****Confession**

_(…And I forgot to tell you I love you_

_And now it's too wrong_

_I'm cold here without you…)_

* * *

He shivered, hating the wind suddenly. So high in the treetops it was always chilly, no matter what time of the year it happened to be. But at least he no longer burned with bitter longing, at least his rage and fury had evaporated…but then again, what they left behind in their wake was even worse than the destructive emotions and urges of before. 

Sometimes he hated being able to think, being able to _feel._ He envied his simpler, animalistic side. It thought only of his needs, hunger, drink, warmth, comfort, shelter, a bath here or there and…_companionship._ Even his animal side—the demon—had its deeper parts. That aspect of his nature had been with him all his life—first in making him love and depend on his mother in his earlier years…only to have her stolen by death. He still flinched at the thought of it, at the old wounds, the old pain. Next it had attached him to Kikyo until Naraku had interfered. It still lingered, feeling some warmth for her even though she _was_ dead. And then…_Kagome._

Except for his mother he'd never known any female as long. He and Kikyo might have known each other for barely a year—but certainly not _three_ of them… Naraku had easily tricked he and Kikyo into hating each other out of necessity, out of the illusion of betrayal. Inuyasha had several times seen a similar attempt by various enemies try to use Kagome against him—but the girl's strong will usually saved the day. He could still remember staring at her when she'd chased after him, dressed in Kikyo's priestess robes, possessed by Menomaru, the mother demon clan's heir. He could also remember the girl's greatest gift to him—the willing sacrifice of her life for his—when Kaguya had pinned him to a cherry tree and Kagome's arrow had refracted from her mirror and straight back at him.

He could only wonder, looking back on such memories from the last three years with her, would Kikyo have done something like that for him? Would Kikyo have fought so hard, out of her simple love and faith for him, to save him? He couldn't be sure, and wasn't truly certain he even cared about the answer, whatever it was in the end.

What he _did_ care about was Kagome. The words she'd screamed at him, _"I hope I never see you again!"_ pained him. They rang inside his memory, haunting him. He had no excuse for the words he'd thrown at her, insulting her, pinning her emotions on her gender, on her hormones…he knew that it was wrong, and he'd known—her scent told him easily enough—that she was being pushed too far. Everything had spun out of control.

He felt sick again, as for the umpteenth time Kagome's voice screamed through his mind, _"I hope I never see you again!"_

Depressed, he looked toward the setting sun, golden eyes unfathomable, unseeing. He was turning inward, seeking a way to summon up his courage. He didn't want to fight with her—most certainly not!—but his pride remained, refusing to be tossed aside. _And, let's face it; she probably needs some time to cool down. If I went now she'd probably sit me into eternity…_or worse. And even if he did manage to get her to forgive him—where would that leave them both? He couldn't seek her the way he thought they both wanted. They were too different, not just in the simple fact that he was half-demon and she was all-human. No—she was from 500 years in the future. She had a family there, schooling, friends…_other men…_ how could they function as mates when there were 500 years separating them?

A noise drew his attention, far below, in the shadows of the trees. His ear turned toward it, curiously, and his golden eyes swiveled as well, peeping at the source of the sound with as little movement as possible. When he saw what, or rather who, it was he released a breath of relief that he hadn't known he'd been holding. It wasn't Kagome—it was Miroku, and the monk was obviously looking for him. Inuyasha saw him scanning the trees; his eyes squinted into tiny slits of violet.

Inuyasha shifted and growled, loudly, drawing the monk's gaze. The violet eyes blinked, focused, squinted, and then Miroku cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled up at him—as if the inuhanyou couldn't hear him! Humans were so narrow minded sometimes…even Kagome forgot from time to time that he could hear her heartbeat from five feet away, and her breathing from twenty!

"Inuyasha!" he shouted, making the named individual lower his ears in irritation at the loudness of the call.

"What do you want, pervert?" he snarled, loudly, letting his voice echo off the trees so that Miroku, who, being human, was almost deaf in comparison to Inuyasha, would hear him clearly.

Completely ignoring the fact that he had been insulted, Miroku shouted again, "Why don't you come down here and have a little talk with me."

"Why don't you go grab Sango's ass, since you seem to like doing that so much?" he retorted, sharply, amber eyes narrowed and unpleasant. He really didn't want a lecture from Miroku. The monk had even less tact that _he_ did! But at least Miroku could have his desired woman. Inuyasha was left with nothing…500 years between one girl he loved, 50 and death between the last one. What were Miroku's prospects? _Anything with boobs…_

_Now_ Miroku frowned. "Inuyasha, _please,_ I _need_ to talk to you…about Kagome."

_Oh gods…_ well what else would it have been about? Sango? The monk had no problems there. Why didn't these humans understand, if he _wanted_ their advice he'd _ask_ for it. He hadn't. Why didn't Miroku just go back to Kaede's village and start grabbing both Sango's and Kagome's butts? Then things would be just fine and dandy…

"Piss off!" he snarled.

Miroku shook his head, the golden staff jangled, catching the sun, "Inuyasha," he murmured quietly, frowning, "Why don't you just tell her the truth already?"

Inuyasha paused, wondering if the monk had meant him to hear that. It'd been spoken under his breath, and because he'd been yelling earlier to "speak" to the hanyou it seemed likely that he'd forgotten how acute his ears really were…but a question like that Miroku knew would catch his attention, make him stand up and defend himself or challenge the monk's conclusions…it was the best way to get the hanyou down and on the ground, talking fairly with him.

Should he reveal himself?

Growling Inuyasha leapt to the ground, his heels barely stinging at the landing. It'd been a fall of over thirty feet at least. Miroku regarded him as if he was surprised, but Inuyasha could tell there was amusement under the surface—but when wasn't the monk pleased with himself? He was a walking sack of self-confidence. _Will you bear my child indeed!_

"Why _should_ I tell her the truth, monk?" he snorted, golden eyes wild, feral.

"Because she's loved you for three years." Miroku's face was expressionless, merely observing.

_What do I say to that?_ His first thought came spilling out, although he knew that it wasn't exactly true either, "She doesn't love me anymore."

"Is that true?" Miroku cocked his head, the violet eyes digging into him, searching. Inuyasha squirmed under it, though he tried to hide it.

"You tell me." A standoff. Monk and thehanyou glared, waiting for one or the other to break. The silence became heavy and terrible, but still it lingered onward. Finally Miroku sighed, fed up with Inuyasha's stubbornness.

"Look Inuyasha—" the hanyou noted that the monk's tone was openly exasperated, a thing that the stoic monk rarely allowed, "She was sobbing so hard when you stormed off," he shook his head, "I think you know the truth as well as anyone else can plainly _see_ it…"

"Bullshit. She cries for a lot of things." He scoffed, covering his guilt with denial.

"A lot of things _you_ put her through…" Miroku's eyes continued to pin him where he was, making him twitch. His ears swiveled, seeking to find anyone that might be within hearing range. They were alone. His insides were beginning to tense; his heart hurt and ached, as if some monster sent by Naraku had reached straight through his chest cavity. But this was an invisible wound, an old one…

When the silence had passed unendingly for quite sometime, Miroku sighed again, thoroughly frustrated and at the end of his patience with Inuyasha's stubborn cold-heartedness. "I'm going to ask you directly, Inuyasha—do you love Kagome or not? Do you care about her at all?" the violet eyes were piercing, judging him, the gaze felt like a real weight, an invisibleton, a heavy demon body slamming him over and over again, trying crush him like a flea.

He didn't know what to say, didn't know if he even retained the ability to speak his mind at all…he opened his lips once, golden eyes wide now with some unfathomable expression, completely unreadable. His ears fell backward, his eyes averted the monk's gaze, questing for the courage to answer that question…to say the words out loud…

"Well?" Miroku probed, impatiently.

"It's none of your damn business!" he snapped, crossing his arms and pouting, his chin and lower lip thrust out.

Miroku flung his staff on the ground with a jingling sound and began to unwrap the prayer beads on his right hand. The beads that kept his powerful, unstoppable wind tunnel closed.

The hanyou gawked at him, stupidly for a moment before he stood tensely at attention, "What the hell are you doing monk!"

"If you don't give me an answer, yes or no, I'm going to solve Kagome's problems for her…" his left hand's fingers fiddled with the cloth that covered his hand, the last barrier between the terrible black hole in his hand and the innocent world around them.

"You wouldn't." he tried to keep his features from betraying any concern, any worry. Sometimes Miroku was a little strange; sometimes he was wild and unpredictable. _Would he **really** open the wind tunnel on me?_ _Is it really worth me making him even threaten to do it? _

Miroku didn't answer, he didn't even look at Inuyasha, just started to take a step backward, ready to brace himself against his own wind's strength. His fingers still toyed with the cloth over his right hand, preparing to pull it away…

"Wait—why do you care so much? It _really_ isn't your business!" Inuyasha growled, trying to sound more angry than desperate—and failing rather miserably.

The monk hesitated, violet eyes pinning him again. "You really are dense, Inuyasha. I pity Kagome."

"Stop trying to insult me, damn it, and tell me!" he snarled, this time without any waver of uncertainty or desperation. His ears were turned backward in aggravation.

Miroku pulled back his hand, lowering it. In a calmer, clear voice he began to speak, "If the well doesn't let Kagome go home to her family again—_ever_—she'll be stuck _here…" _he eyed Inuyasha all over in the brief pause, amusement once more lurking underneath his stony surface mask. Suddenly Inuyasha _knew_ what he was thinking: _if Kagome can't go home again there will be no school, no family, no human suitors, and no future, only the past…and she wouldn't want to be stuck there with **him**…not unless their true feelings came out._

The monk finished his thought in a softer voice, "It'd be better if you weren't fighting continuously. Things might become _very _hard for her to handle."

Inuyasha growled lightly, turning away from Miroku, trying to appear angry and frustrated, or better yet annoyed, but inside he was anything but. _As much as I love her I'd never want her stuck here with me forever, away from her family, away from everything she's familiar with…everything that she calls home._ And he knew, silently, that Miroku was trying to get this point across to him: if Kagome was stranded with them, forever, they'd need to become her new family, they'd need to make sure she survived the separation from her real family, either for the rest of her life or until the well could be made to work again…

"Well Inuyasha?" Miroku asked again, his voice a little tighter once more, and the hanyou cringed, both externally and internally. His ears flicked forward and backward uncertainly.

"Well what?" he asked again, stubborn until the day he died it seemed. He could hear Miroku sigh in exasperation behind him.

"Do you love her? Do you love Kagome? The truth, if you don't mind, Inuyasha."

_So confident…damn it!_ He let his ears droop and his head dip. His pride battled inside him, demanding that he remain stoic and secretive. To reveal where one's heart lay was a grave error. Once everyone knew the truth it endangered both individuals and their safety. There were so many things he wasn't sure about, so many things he feared desperately but could never expose or share to others…but if he could he knew that the person he'd choose to sharehis heartand soul withwasn't the one behind him—it was Kagome.

"What happens, monk," he sneered the last word, snarling silently, exposing his fangs even though Miroku couldn't possibly see the expression with Inuyasha's back turned to him, "If I tell you? Do you run to Kagome? Do you tell her so she can hate me or torture me or whatever she likes?" he snorted, "If you do I'll deny it. Like I said—this is none of your business."

"I know," Miroku started, his voice surprisingly soft, smooth and full of understanding, "It isn't any of my business…but it _is_ my business to worry about your happiness and your survival, that goes forboth of you. And right now neither one of you is doing anyone any good." He sounded as if he might huff in disappointment at the hanyou, like a disgusted father lecturing his son. The thought made Inuyasha bristle, "And I won't tell Kagome, that is _your _job."

"Then _leave_ it between _us…"_ the hanyou whirled on him amber eyes glaring in silent warning.

Miroku shook his head, "I've done that for the last three years—it's not happening anytime soon." His lips were pursed, apparently in disappointment.

For a moment they stared one another down again, man to man, or rather, human to half-demon, friend-to-friend. Violet eyes trained on amber eyes, neither blinked. But unlike their last exchange when Miroku had broken it, this time Inuyasha did.

As if exhausted the hanyou sagged, giving way to a huge sigh, as id he'd been holding his breath for a very, _very_ long time. Then, finally succumbing to the monk's tenacity, he closed his eyes and muttered, "You're exactly right Miroku."

He didn't need to elaborate any further than that for Miroku, "You love her." It wasn't a question; his voice and face were both expressionless.

Inuyasha didn't answer verbally, instead, with his ears drooped, his eyes still closed, he nodded, once, twice, and then ceased. He stood still as stone, as if the confession had drained him of all strength.

Miroku laughed then, which immediately brought Inuyasha's eyes snapping wide open. "What the hell is funny?" he snapped, eyeing the monk as if he were tap dancing on Broadway suddenly.

"Why," Miroku smirked, hardly containing himself, "don't you tell her the truth?"

"Because…" he sighed again, his ears drooping for the zillionth time, "I can't ask her to stay with me—she belongs with her family…" he frowned when he thought about the well, about the way it denied Kagome's passage, his as well. Had the magic stopped? _Was_ she _really_ stranded with them forever? He didn't want that, had never wanted it. Families were important, he wished that he could've had one himself, but he had lost his only family—his mother—so soon in his life that all he'd known was loneliness and battles. He had to be strong and without weakness, which included emotional attachments to others, to survive.

"I won't tell her anything—and I won't demand that _you_ do anything…" Miroku began, replacing the beads around his right hand carefully, then kneeling for his staff. It jangled, sparkled brilliantly gold in the dying sunlight. "But—please—be _nice_ to her. Stop _fighting…"_ he turned and started to walk off, his sandals crunching over twigs, dead leaves, and discarded bark from the trees around them.

Just ten or so feet away he suddenly turned and looked back at the hanyou, who was still standing where he'd been, as if stunned. "Oh, and Inuyasha!" he called.

The hanyou looked up, frowning, "What monk? Aren't you through with me _yet?"_

"Yes, but one last thing—stop calling Kagome a bitch. She _hates_ it…"

Inuyasha scowled and muttered, "Whatever monk." Turning his back on him, leaping into the trees. When he'd safely reached the top hew settled in, watching the golds and reds of the sun as it disappeared beyond the rim of the earth…and he thought, idly: _I don't call her **a** bitch, I call her **mine**…**my** mate, that's what I wish she could be…_

* * *

"Do you know any reason why the well might be blocked?" Sango asked the old priestess Kaede while they sat, circled around her warm fire that night, each eating their bowls of rice and chicken stew. 

Shippo was already on his second bowl, wolfing down the stuff and stealing hunks of chicken from Kagome's bowl every so often, though he always looked to her for permission to do so. She always granted it with a slight nod of her head. But the schoolgirl herself was sullen and not eating anything. Her chopsticks were embedded in the thick slop, but her fingers never moved to use them, instead they were lodged in her lap, uselessly. She hadn't spoken a single word while they ate.

Miroku and Sango sat close to one another, opposite Shippo, Kaede, and Kagome. Normally the spot closest the door would've housed Inuyasha—who likely would've complained about the food, refused anything Kagome offered in replacement, and then proceeded to eat five or six bowls of it anyway. This night, however, Inuyasha was missing. Miroku had checked around the outskirts of the village and the God Tree, but there was no sign of him anywhere. If he was nearby he chose not to be found.

Both the demon slayer and the monk had exchanged news earlier. Miroku had told Sango of what Inuyasha had said—making sure that he reminded her of their bet over dinner, but Sango stubbornly insisted that it made no difference what Inuyasha had told him under the threat of his wind-tunnel. Unless he confessed it to the stricken Kagome and started treating her right it was useless.

"Besides," she'd teased, a glimmer in her brown eyes, "No matter what the truth was _anyone_ would lie or give you what you wanted under threat of being sucked into your hand for all eternity!"

The monk had raised his eyebrow, liking the sound of what she was saying, "I'm going to have to remember that—my Sango…" she'd regretted that later, who _knew_ what his lecherous mind would conjure up, ways to torture her. She could already see it now: _Bear my children or be sucked into my WIND TUNNEL!_

Now the mirth of their earlier, secretive meeting had died when they'd seen the distraught, so uncharacteristically quiet Kagome sharing her uneaten food with the kitsune. Even Kaede had tried to lighten the mood, scolding Shippo about his piggish appetite and encouraging Kagome to eat her fill. But the girl hadn't even voiced her answer verbally—instead she shook her head, leaving her food untouched, as if it were poisoned. Her stomach's needs had been silenced by her mind's preoccupations with the well's failure to take her home…

Kaede had just settled down with her own generous bowl of the soup when she realized that she'd missed Sango's question. With a blink she looked back at the demon slayer and asked in her rough old voice, "What did ye ask?"

"Do you know anything about the well's magic, Lady Kaede?" Miroku asked in place of Sango, who had just shoveled in a large piece of chicken to her mouth.

Kaede slipped her chopsticks into the stew, thinking carefully…her eyes slid to Kagome and she guessed immediately why the group would ask such a question. But despite her curiosity she didn't comment on it and didn't probe any farther, except with the flicker of her old eyes to Kagome. It wasn't hard to see that the girl was deeply upset. The loss of expression from her eyes, the fatigued set of her shoulders as she hunched where she was sitting, completely ignoring the food in front of her. Kaede turned her attention away after a moment, so as not to disturb the schoolgirl any further and pensively chewed on a piece of chicken as she met the monk's stare, thinking.

When she'd swallowed the anciently aged priestess cleared her throat and spoke quietly, "The well's magic is a mystery me. I'm afraid that ye are out of luck here."

She didn't miss the immediate sag of all shoulders in the assembled group of Shard-hunters. To fill the void of silence and sadness she started speaking again, relating all that she knew, either from their adventures or from earlier knowledge, "The well is connected to the future by the Sacred Tree, from whose wood it is made of, is it not?" she didn't wait for their nods, "So if the tree were destroyed it would cease to be connected. Also the shards allow for Kagome to pass through it…"

For the first time Kagome had looked up, and her gaze was thick and shimmering with tears, all eyes were immediately fixed on her, "It isn't the shards, Kaede, and it isn't the tree. I was _just_ in my time and the tree was _fine._ It's something else…" she started to cry weakly again, a few of her tears splattering into her bowl of stew. Shippo withdrew his chopsticks from her bowl at the same time, sheepishly, apologetically, as if her tears were his fault.

Kaede appeared distressed and concerned but she averted her gaze from Kagome, determined not to discomfort the girl. "There are other sources of knowledge…there are others ye may visit who know more than I." She pursed her old, thinned lips a moment, as a new thought struck her, "And perhaps there is a third magic involved that ye do not understand—for is it not true that Inuyasha can pass through the well _without_ the shards?"

Intrigued glances honed in on her all around, waiting for more like hungry vultures waiting for death. "Have ye not tried letting _everyone_ pass through the well? If one may not pass perhaps another can…"

But Kagome shook her head, her gaze dropping depressingly. "No, Kaede," she whispered, "Inuyasha can only go through because of the subduing rosary you placed on him, I think." She frowned, as if she had a bad taste in her mouth suddenly, "And he can't go through it now either." Her eyes appeared to be getting moister by the second, and the others worked quickly to draw the topic in a different direction to save her tear ducts any further strain.

"If you don't know anything more, Lady Kaede, can I inquire as to who might?" the monk asked, voice and facial expression calm and even.

She nodded slowly, "Certainly, I have heard word of a monk to the south that studies such mysteries, and I believe his name is rumored to be Saishi."

Miroku smiled lightly, clearly amused, "Clever man," he intoned, smirking, violet eyes flicking in Sango's direction though the demon slayer stubbornly ignored him, "That is a name _all_ monks could go by."

"All but one." Sango immediately shot back, a scowl on her face but a smirk easily read in her warm brown eyes.

Miroku feigned pain, "My dear Sango! What has possessed you to be so cruel?" he reached for one of her hands, squeezing it tightly in his grip and placing it over his heart, "You wound me!"

The demon slayer ignored him with a roll of her eyes; trying to ignore the flush of heat she felt stealing over her face. She ripped her hand from his grasp and instead looked to Kaede, getting back to business, "Where, exactly, can we find him Lady Kaede?" she asked, ignoring Miroku's silent grin beside her.

She shook her head, "I know not—only that he is well-known and lives further south."

There were sighs of fatigue around the room. None of them liked entering a quest without knowing vaguely where something was—unless, of course, they were chasing Naraku. It was always those quests that had no set direction, no set course or rules. Naraku generally chose to come to them, rather than the other way around. They would have to find Saishi on their own, which would, inevitably, take time away from the grander quests—Naraku and the Shikon shards.

"Have any of ye seen Inuyasha?" Kaede asked, perplexed that the usually famished and obnoxious hanyou wouldn't be in their company, whining and eating heartily.

Her question, although simple and innocent, brought Kagome's very sudden, very angry gaze to the old woman's face, a deep scowl in her otherwise beautiful features. "He's probably pulling the wings off a fly somewhere for fun," she snarled, venomously, "I hope he freezes out there."

Miroku, Sango and Shippo all flinched at the anger in her voice. Kaede looked startled, but she said nothing. Only Shippo had something to add to Kagome's statement. "But it's the middle of summer, Kagome," he abandoned his chopsticks and moved to climb into her lap—which she allowed—and snuggled close to her, as if preparing for sleep. Kagome said nothing to him but did begin to absently stroke his red hair and his bushy tail gently.

Nervously in the silence that followed, with only the crackling of the fire for relief in the group's tension, Miroku cleared his throat, violet eyes dancing in the fire with unnatural glee—despite the fact that happiness was the _last_ thing he was feeling at that moment. "Perhaps," he began, nervously, glancing to Sango for silent reassurance, "The well will let you pass through tomorrow. Perhaps passing through it only a few minutes after having arrived isn't allowed by the well's magic…" he let the idea float about them, and was relieved when Sango nodded in agreement, supporting him.

"Yes, Kagome, you haven't ever tried to go back so soon before—right?" she asked, hope gleaming in her eyes. Now even Kaede, and Shippo, lying sleepily in the schoolgirl's lap, were nodding, encouragingly.

"I can't ever remember going through so soon again like that, you're right…but…" she pursed her lips, apparently unsure and uncertain still skeptical of their obvious hope for her. "Tomorrow I'll try again." She nodded, appearing stronger than she had the whole day.

"Good, that sounds excellent!" Miroku grinned happily a second and then, where the others didn't see it, his hand slid to Sango's and grasped it, squeezing. "I think I'm going to get a little _air._" He announced nonchalantly, and rose from his spot to leave, but not before throwing Sango one meaningful glance before disappearing.

Taking the hint, Sango smiled sheepishly at the others, although both Kagome and Kaede were too absorbed by the mysteries of the well to really notice her nervousness, and Shippo was already asleep. "I'm…" she swallowed and her face beamed bright red, "Going to bathe before I turn in for the night…" almost with a squeak of fear, Sango jumped from her spot and quickly slid out the door.

"Hmm…" Kaede said when Sango had left, curiously, "She didn't take any supplies for bathing with her…"

Kagome sighed across the fire, looking vaguely amused, and maybe even slightly jealous, "Those two are so cute together." She shook her head and stroked Shippo again, idly.

Kaede stared at Kagome's expression for sometime, thoughtfully. Her face saddened, the worn lines of worry and stress becoming more apparent the longer she looked. _Poor child,_ she thought, _I know where her mind is…**who** it's dwelling on…_

* * *

"What if you're wrong, Miroku, what if the well _has_ stopped working?" Sango whispered frantically, her eyes gleaming with carefully restrained tears of pity for her friend who was almost as good as her sister. She shook her head, fists clenching at her sides, "If she can't go back to her own time—" 

"Shh!" Miroku put on finger to her lips, and Sango stopped, as if stricken dead, her face turning bright pink at his touch at such an intimate place, despite the fact that she knew it was an innocent touch. Her chocolate eyes locked with his violet ones, although in the darkness both sets of gazes were as good as colorless. "Don't think about that possibility now." He ordered, gently.

"But—"

"Shh!" he ordered again, the finger once more moving to her lips, and his gaze fixed her to her place, making her silent this time, waiting for his next words as if her life depended on them, "If the well doesn't work tomorrow we'll search for this Saishi monk."

"What if he can't help?" she threw him a glance that clearly explained her faith in scholars. In her experience such people fought amongst themselves about the truth of the world while living lives that never allowed them to experience it. She, on the other hand, had learned most of what she knew about anything by _living_ it. She'd learned to slay demons by _watching_ her father, she'd learned about different kinds of demons and their habits by _seeing_ them, she'd learned to sharpen and perfect the hiraikotsu by touch and observation of her family's own tools, and she'd learned grief, terror, and survival by _experiencing_ the tragedy of recent history that she called her life. Whatever she'd learned from reading she generally didn't remember unless she had a living example of it.

"If he can't help then…" she saw the shine of Miroku's eyes look away, toward the darkness of the trees. He sighed and began speaking in a soft, gentle voice that stunned Sango, "I believe that everything happens for a purpose." The shining of his eyes vanished—he'd closed his eyes. "Everything that has happened to us will, in time, be proved useful." The shine reappeared and turned its attention to her, "All of us have some reason to hate Naraku for instance—and coincidentally we meet one another and join as a team to increase our strength. I don't see accident there, Sango, I see Fate."

Sango couldn't help but feel anger sweep through her, perhaps even rage. She tried to keep her body language, her stance, the quick jerks of movement that her eyes made that she knew he'd be able to make out even in the dark, from revealing it, but when she spoke her voice refused to be contained, "You think that _fate_ is responsible for taking my family from me? You think that _fate_ pinned Inuyasha to a tree for fifty years? You think that _fate_ cursed your right hand? You think that _fate_ has closed the well's magic off from Kagome?" her voice shook with anger, as if she were about to explode.

But somehow, Miroku remained calm and unfazed by her heated passion. "Fate chose to bind us together using those events." He intoned, unemotionally.

Sango wanted to hit him, she shook visibly with her outrage at the thought, "_Miroku,_" she hissed dangerously, "How does _fate_ plan to bring us closer together by keeping Kagome from her _family?_ From her _time?" _Sango shook her head urgently, "She doesn't belong here! _It's wrong!"_

He sighed and one hand rose to touch her chin carefully—and the moment his skin touched hers, Sango froze, blinking, the rage suddenly banished with surprise and uncertainty. The identical shine of both eyes in the dark met with one another, as if staring into a mirror.

"I don't know how, Sango, but I do _know_ that somehow everything will work out…" he reached for her hand, gently, and rose it as if in slow motion, placing it over his heart, "I have _faith_ in that. Everyone _will_ make it through this and all the other trials left for us to endure. _But we must stick together…_"

A sense of tranquility settled over the demon slayer and she sighed, her hand closing over Miroku's. If she closed her eyes and concentrated on it hard enough, she thought, just maybe she'd feel his heart pumping beneath his purple robes. Softly, she nodded, "You're right, houshi-sama, you're always right."

At that she saw him grin and knew she'd made a mistake. The monk jerked her closer with their shared clasp on one another, until her body was inches from his own, and he bent close to whisper, "Does that mean you'll bear my children, dear Sango?" before she could think of something to shoot him down with a warm touch connected with her thigh and rose up and down slowly, even stopping once to squeeze. She wheezed in, shocked for a split second, and then ripped her hand away from his, rising the other for the inevitable blow…

"HENTAI!" her palm connected with his face and the monk stumbled backward, stunned but happily so. Sango hurried back to Kaede's hut, her face feeling as if it were on fire. Miroku watched her retreating form and slowly smiled goofily, thinking, _She liked it—I know she did…soon she'll be the one feeling **me** up…_Ah, yes, just like in his dreams…

He chuckled to himself and decided to head for the lake to take a cold bath before bed…

* * *

Endnote: On to the thank yous! 

_**snowecat**_ Thank you! I like your name, makes me think of a white tiger or a clouded leopard from the Himalayas...hope you enjoyed this chapter! _**SerenaClearwater**_ short or not I thank you still! Anything is better than nothing...yes, I have been trying to work on that tension...I want to build that tension, anxiety and angst up into a big, fat, happy bubble so that you all hate me and then I'll just bust it wide open! (grins) I keep reading fictions that are really good only becuase of that tension...they get close and then get stopped, and those are the best so I'm taking a shot at it (winks) _**NefCanuck **_(sniggles evily) Yes! And I am going to make it worse for a while still! (evil laughter) and love you Yoda speech I do (winks) _**Rinicat**_ I'm sorry to do that to you Rini...I promise that eventually they'll stop fighting with each other, kay? By the time they get to Saishi they'll no longer be at each other's throats...Authoress's promise! hey, ironically you know I wanted to use the name Rini in one of my stories...(wonders if maybe she already has)...Oh well...

Kay, here goes the preview for next chapter:

_**Inuyasha.** The hanyou stared at her with his brows puckered, his lips held tightly, and in his eyes, the amber jewels that glittered and sent shivers through her bones, she saw worry, she saw—fear? And on her waist she realized his hands were still clutching her, still holding her protectively. **He saved me!** She thought, stunned and grateful at once, a smile began at the corners of her lips. Then she had a second thought, **there I go again, ready to fall into his arms and think that his saving me means something…he saves me because it's what he has to do, for his pride. If Kikyo were around he would've left me to choke to death…**her small smile started to twist at the thought, a frown ready to be born onto her face. _

_She saw his eyes change suddenly, from worry and concern to outrage and disgust. "That's **not** true!" he growled at her, and she felt his claws at her waist, tightening, emphasizing… _

**_Did I speak out loud?_**_ She blinked at him confusedly and saw the hanyou's gold eyes clearing of emotion and widening. His ears folded backward and she felt his hands leave her waist._

There you are, a rather pivotal moment from the next chapter...all right...for those of you waiting on WOAWO it's coming...maybe tomorrow...until next time, don't forget to drop me a review! I LOVE hearing from you guys! Newbies, don't be shy, I thank everyone! (Unless I clumsily lose your email, then just tell me so and I'll be your slave eternally...(whimpers)) Well enough from me...till next time!


	4. Discoveries

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inu...the lyrics belong to Evanesscence or however you spell their name...grr...

**A/N:** I'm a little later than usual, hope you guys can forgive me...(whimpers) Okay, this chapter starts out with Mrs. Higurashi again. Souta's come to keep her company...she mentions a name in here...I chose it, looked it up from Japanese baby boy names online and when I found it I just HAD to use it. I say Souta looks like the father he barely knew--and I'm not sure if in the anime we ever see or hear of Kagome's father, but we know she HAD to have one of course...so I had to give him a name. I chose "Toshi" b/c it is supposed to mean "Mirror Image." as I recall and I wanted to portray Souta as his father's son...so I chose that name...Later in the Feudal era Inuyasha and Kagome continue to share accidental thoughts, so in case you forgot: this _(blah blah blah blah!)_ means thoughts that the other character is being exposed to, they didn't actually think it themselves. I think you'll all get it (winks). They also share a dream...which I plan to only make happen when one is asleep and the other is awake and being stubborn...hmm...yea...and then at the end of course her trip to the well I think everyone should understand...if you don't REVIEW and tell me so...cuz that's something I need to know b/c if you guys can't understand it, that's MY fault, not yours, MINE...it's a bad writing thing (sheepish smile) that can happen sometimes...I'm always on the look out for it...anyway...hope everyone enjoys! Almost done with SWFM and WOAWO has really started to take off! AH! Plot twist! Anyway, read and remember to review please! (whimpers) Thank you!

**

* * *

****Discoveries **

_(…I know I can stop the pain_

_If I will it all away…**if I will it all away**…)_

* * *

I woke with a jolt, and immediately regretted it. I must've fallen asleep stroking Ashi, reading my book—I can't even remember where I dozed off, what I last read. But one thing I _did_ know at least was that I must've been tired because I slept the night away in the most excruciating position. Springing awake as I did sent rivulets of pain coursing up my spine, into my temples. 

I'll admit to you that the next few words that escaped my lips while I waited for that initial pain to fade weren't exactly savory…in fact had I ever heard my children mutter them I'd have washed their mouths out with soap. Well, that was at least before they started to grow up. Souta has plenty of words at his disposal I know, with his friends he likely uses whatever he feels like—but I am proud that when he's with me he's strictly honorable. Sometimes that's the most a mother can ask for in these days.

When I looked up—and don't ask me why I did, I can't recall hearing anything that would make me need to—I was startled to see Souta standing in the doorway, tall and _intensely_ similar to his father. Despite the many, many long years between my husband's death and that day when Souta came to comfort me, I still felt my heart twist up, like your stomach would do when you're hungry. I almost had to fight tears. _It's not Toshi—it's Souta…there's no reason for tears!_

"Hi Mom, you finally awake?" I could see the tease in his handsome eyes—_just_ like Toshi's used to tease, silently and so effectively.

"Finally?" I blinked, looking around. It was light outside well enough, but the sunrise comes in the summer earlier than usual, not at 6 AM or six-thirty but at five-thirty or earlier. So sunlight meant nothing, though by the slant of the shadows outside I guessed it was about 9 AM.

"Yea, Mom, when I got here and rang the doorbell at six you must've been out cold! I had to use the extra key that you keep underneath the potted plants at the door to get in." he laughed, little dimples started at his cheeks—a feature I knew that my husband hadn't passed to our son, those dimples were too familiar. I saw them everyday when I looked into the mirror. If I was smiling anyway—which didn't happen as often as I knew it should.

"Souta! Oh! I'm so sorry…" I started to get up to hug him and apologize again—to think I wasn't even awake to welcome home my own son! But as I moved the book I'd fallen asleep with clattered off my lap onto the floor. "Oh, darn it all!" I huffed.

He laughed at me and stepped into my bedroom to help as I knelt down to pick up the book. "You know Mom, this place is too big for you to keep up alone…" he started, and I felt my pulse race. Our hands almost met over the spine of the novel, and we stood together, both trying to clutch the book.

"And with no one else but me to—" he was still talking but I put one finger to his lips to silence his thoughts.

"Souta—you're job is to go to college to make sure you're educated properly."

"But Mom—alone you can't support yourself _and_ take care of the shrine…you're going to need help…maybe you should talk to one of dad's sisters, or our cousins, they might be able to—"

I sighed and silenced him again, "Souta, you know that it was our side of the family that was given this responsibility." I closed the novel with a grim force that seemed to signify my solidity on what I was saying, despite the fact that inside I was longing to just throw my arms around him and tell him he was right. The cousins could come and take over! He could stay and forget his life at college. Maybe he could help me move into an apartment somewhere else, away from the shrine, and I could leave him this cold, dark, empty house with all of its mockingly cheerful memories. _Then_ maybe, just maybe, I would be able to stay sane.

But my insecurities didn't matter here. Honor and responsibility did. If I told Souta that he was right he would never be able to persevere through the troubles in his own later life without backing out of them. I had to show him now that he couldn't abandon the family task, the family lands—they were sacred, they were what made us strong. Sometimes, I thought, the shrine was the only thing that had _saved_ my sanity when my mother and Toshi were taken in the accident.

"But you need help, Mom!" he grasped my shoulders with hands that I had never realized were so strong. I was reminded again of that strange time when parents—fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles—switch places with their children—sons and daughters, nieces and nephews—becoming children themselves again, dependent on those around them, unable to work, unable, sometimes, to even complete the simplest tasks like eating or dressing in the morning…

"You can't just sit around here and _pretend_ that everything's going to be okay!" he was fairly shouting at me, and I tried to keep myself from flinching and closing my eyes to avoid some of the truth in what he was saying, "It's _not okay._ You can't do it on your own." He sighed, eyeing me sadly, "Mom—before Gramps died…" he looked away fighting his tears, "I thought it would be okay too. I thought that everything would last just until I could get married and move in with you—but that might not happen still for years! I'm too young, Mom, I'm the youngest child if, if—"

We let our gazes meet. I think we both knew exactly what he was trying to say. We also both knew it was true. Souta hadn't originally been the child who's responsibility it was to keep the family's traditions alive. _That_ honor usually belonged to the _eldest_, the firstborn. But my firstborn had been locked on the other side of time years ago; either by death…or by the damned claws of the hanyou she loved with all her being. I felt my hands curling into little balls of sudden rage.

"I _know_ that you wish that your sister could do it instead, Souta—"

"_No,_ Mom, that's _not_ it." He whispered hoarsely, and suddenly he had his arms around me, squeezing me tight to him, stunning me. I could feel him struggling to breathe evenly. I'd seen him cry so many times as a young boy, even as an adolescent, but _never_ once as a young man. When Kagome had gone I'd watched a harder streak develop in him. He listened as he grew, to Gramps and I bashing his hero—that damned hanyou Inuyasha. He listened and listened and never fought our opinions. But, I wondered for the first time with a jolt, what had he done in the quiet of his room? Had he shed tears then too, mourning his sister, mourning his hero? Had Inuyasha been like a second father to my son?

I wrapped my arms around his back and patted him, "Shh, Souta, it's all right."

He pushed me away, and I saw that he was _shaking_, "No Mom! It's not!" his lips were held so tightly together in between outbursts that they looked bleached bright white, "Kagome was older by a lot! By now she would've been in her late 20s! She'd be with you and you'd have something to do besides grieve Gramps! _She'd_ take care of the shrine, and everything would be okay…" he looked away and I felt myself start to shake as the first of his tears finally _did_ escape his eyes. "_Then_ everything would be okay, Mom, but she's not here…she's _there…_"

I let go of my grasp on his shoulders, disgusted at his thought. "I think that _he_ killed her ages ago." I sneered.

Souta looked at me with something terrible glittering in his eyes, but it never came out in his voice, which was deadly calm, dangerously emotionless. "Mom—he wasn't like what you think he was."

I felt myself shaking, felt that yawning black hole inside me open up, threatening to engulf me whole. It was all I could do to stop myself from falling over in the sudden dizzy spell that attacked me. I reached a hand out behind me, steadied myself on the chair sitting idly behind me, deaf to our fight, uncomprehending. Souta sent out a worried arm to help but I slapped him away, scowling. I could feel the lines of unhappiness dig themselves deeper into my once pleasant face.

When I met Souta's eyes again his stare was devoid of negative emotion. I saw something else in his eyes, a glittering fear, similar to the grief that had enveloped me moments ago. I didn't want to even guess what he was thinking so I spat out, "_Then why didn't she come home!"_

Souta sagged in front of me, as if deflating. "I don't know Mom, I just don't know…" he looked down at the floor for a moment and then blinked, as if banishing his cares away, like switching off a light. "Well…there's nothing we can do about it just sitting here…daylight's wasting, we should go and clean out the shrine." He started to leave; his stance and his heavy footsteps were the only thing that betrayed any of his inner emotions to me. I wondered, silently, how Souta had managed to stay quiet all those years in the house with Gramps and I, listening to our simple hatred of the hanyou that he liked to think of as a hero…I remembered that he'd worshipped the hanyou, asked advice from him as if he were an uncle or a father!

Before I'd realized how much time had passed Souta was at the door, staring back at me with a confused, worried expression. "Mom?" he queried, hesitantly, his voice wavering just a little.

I looked up at him, and, struggling to clear my face of doubt, I nodded. "You start on the shrine, I'll make you some breakfast and be out to help you afterwards, okay?"

He nodded and offered me a shaky smile. "Sounds excellent Mom, just like old times." He disappeared around the door and I felt my knees shake.

_Just like old times?_ No, there was no Gramps complaining about my cooking being too hard for his old, sore teeth. There wasn't a girl I called daughter dashing about looking for her supplies for school before running out the door, forgetting her lunch behind her.

On, it wasn't just like old times, and it never would be again.

But there was nothing I could do, except laze about and feel terrible, and I hadn't resigned myself to pity. That was simply ridiculous. The kitchen and Souta's breakfast awaited me, and after driving all night to get here, it was the _least_ I could do for him!

I started down the stairs with a tiny start of a smile on my face. _Maybe things won't be as bad as I keep thinking they will be after all…_

* * *

He could scent her for a mile in every direction. Walking about the edges of the village, to the river and the lake where the people bathed during the day—and Miroku had been among them quite recently he noted—and all the way to the shrine and the well, he could _still_ smell her. He tried rubbing his nose in the dirt, rolling in dead leaves, and he even cut himself up and smearing the blood right under his nostrils. It worked only until the blood dried, only until the scent of the dead leaves disappeared into the wind, and the dirt just made him sneeze and cough. None of the others were clear at all, not even Shippo's or Kilala's and their scents were naturally strong and pungent to him as they were youkai odors. 

Eventually he realized that it _couldn't _be her scent. A scent could only be thrown for such long distances by the wind, and that wasn't the case here. Such a thing just wasn't really possible. Instead he thought that it wasn't really her _scent_, it was her _presence_ that he detected, that he felt so keenly. He received nothing in the way of news from it—no thoughts, no feelings, no continuous report of heart rate or breathing rhythm. Instead it simply told him she was alive, and _there._ Rather than be comforted by such a thing, Inuyasha wanted nothing but to rid himself of it as a slow and terrible dawning of understanding awoke within him.

_We're linked._

Mindlessly he roamed over the paths the villagers had trodden into the wilds around their home over the long centuries. Would this place, so quiet and clear and wild, one day sprout the huge trees of steel and metal that Kagome's world sported? But that thought made him cringe in guilt—would _Kagome_ ever see those towers again herself? What had she called her huge, twisted metal village? Tokyo? What did the villagers call their village? Could it really be the same? Or did Kagome come from a whole other world?

_Maybe I could ask her…_

But he couldn't. They hadn't been on decent speaking terms in a long time. Normally if they'd fought he could count on Kagome accepting his apology or even providing her own, but not anymore. Now he had to deal with her short-tempered outbursts, which were almost as bad as his own! Somewhere along the line he had pushed her over the edge, and he wasn't sure how to go about reversing such an action. He didn't even understand how it had come about to begin with! He'd been cautious of her for _three_ years, silently denying that he could feel anything for her—and that if he _did_ feel something it was because she so resembled Kikyo…but he hadn't seen the resurrected priestess in many months, hadn't even caught a hint of her in the wind.

Yes, not a trace of the dead priestess, but and overwhelming amount of her reincarnation…

When the moon was high over the earth, shining its light straight downward, illuminating the world around him in an eerie silver light, Inuyasha leapt to a large maple at the edge of Kaede's village, and waited. He wasn't trying to sleep this night—he knew that that would be impossible; the events of the day were too heavy on him. Besides, he needed the time to ponder, to work things out, even though, as he sat in the maple's branches, brooding, he tried to stall off the inevitable, and necessary thoughts…

Kagome's scent and her presence as well seemed thick in the air to him, cloying, suffocating. It confused him, made his inner senses—senses he hadn't even really known he'd possessed until now—quiver and try to shut themselves off. But there appeared to be no simple way to do that…

The thought came again—the very idea that he had been so carefully struggling to keep out of his mind—it arrived loudly and unbidden: _We **have** to be linked…_

Inuyasha closed his golden eyes, ceasing their flashing brilliance, pulling himself inward. _We **can't** be linked…I don't even know anything about it! There's no way…it's not even possible!_ He ran through his memories, seeking anything that might hint the truth to him, whatever it was. Long ago, when he'd hardly been old enough to remember it, Sesshomaru had tracked him and his mother down and tried to train his half brother. Inuyasha hardly remembered it at all, only that his mother had hated it and tried to get Sesshomaru away from her and her tiny son. The reason had become apparent to him only after Sesshomaru had begun the training. His brother had had personal interests at heart—he hadn't come because Inutaisho had asked, or because he had wanted his little half brother to know such things, he came, instead, to look for Tetsuseiga's hiding place. He never found it and eventually gave up, abandoning the lessons, but not before he had passed on some knowledge through a brief mental link.

_That_ had been Inuyasha's only brush with such things—until now. In those early memories he remembered always knowing when Sesshomaru was nearby, of being able to scent his brother from miles away. The link was effectively dissolved and useless to both of them years later in the present, and even at its strongest Inuyasha had never been very aware of it…but that link of long ago _had_ certainly been similar to what he was feeling now. How Sesshomaru had forged a link with him, Inuyasha didn't know—but he _did_ know that it could be stopped by time and determination.

The link with his brother had failed eventually…could he force whatever was making him so attuned to Kagome cease as well?

Angrily he shook his head, opened his golden eyes with a scowl, and growled into the light wind that stirred over the clearing. He could see Kaede's hut, scent the occupants inside, sleeping away…the leaves of the maple tree that housed him swayed slowly in the wind, dipping and bowing, rising again…the hanyou's ears folded backward, his eyes narrowed.

_Kagome is dreaming…_

The thought was unbidden and made him close his eyes in exasperation. His claws cut into the tree's hardened flesh, through the tough outer bark until moisture greeted his fingertips. The tree's sap coated his claws when he tore the free again, growling, deep inside his throat. He would've licked the stuff right off his fingers if his stomach didn't feel as if it were full of hot air, so tight and hot that he wondered if he had eaten something rotten recently and might be about to suffer a nasty bout of food poisoning. The very thought of eating made his head swim.

He stared at the hut again, trying to ignore a growing pressure in his mind, like the pain of a headache. His claws burrowed once more into the tree's skin, drawing more sap, which he continued to ignore. He was a carnivore anyway, why waste his time with maple-tree sap? Especially when he felt so appallingly sick…he closed his eyes and took a deep breath inward, trying to calm the nervous tension of his muscles and organs…in his mind the pressure he'd been struggling to suppress popped, like a bubble of Kagome's strange "chewing gum."

_She was crying in front of the well, leaning up against its old, wooden sides. "Why are you always such a **jerk!"** she screeched from between her tiny fingers, which were struggling to cover her tears from the figure in red that lingered, crouched some ten feet away, regarding her with unfathomable golden eyes…_

"_I'm sorry I don't mean to be…" he answered her, softly._

_The girl leaning against the old well looked up, startled. Her dark eyes were red and puffy from crying, but still intensely beautiful. "What did you say?" she stared at him, somewhere between elated and suspicious. _

"_I said I don't mean to be, Kagome. Please…stop crying…"_

_Suddenly the girl stood up, her face a mask of rage, "You're lying! I know you are! This isn't real…" her anger trailed off and once more became sadness, more tears appeared in her dark eyes. The figure, still crouched in red, with his head cocked to one side, golden eyes worried and concerned for her, shimmered, shivered, and disappeared. _

_The girl started to shake her head, as if to call back the image, as if she might cry for having lost him, but then her fists balled up. Red covered her face as she snarled, "I'm just dreaming…"_

The images wavered and died from where they'd been playing over the backs of his eyelids, and the hanyou jolted, nearly falling from his perch. _Damn!_ He snarled to himself inwardly, _Now not only can I catch her thoughts from time to time, I can see her dreams too!_ Although he'd thankfully been unable to react to it or change it, and Kagome hadn't apparently known he was there, it still bothered him. Who knew what girls chose to dream about sometimes! He didn't want to see something that she'd be embarrassed about—he didn't even want to see what he'd already seen! _Gods,_ he thought, _what if she starts dreaming about Kouga or Miroku? I wouldn't be able to handle it…_he shuddered. _This link has got to stop…_

But how could he do that when he didn't even know how it'd formed? Or why? It was true he loved her, though he scarcely had the courage to deal with that realization, but he hardly understood why his emotions for her might make such a bond…and why not before? Why not when they _weren't_ fighting like…his own pun made him smirk disgustedly, like cats and dogs.

…Was it the shards? But no, when he'd held them that day he'd still been able to hear her thoughts…

He frowned at the implications that such a realization hinted at: _this link is something that **I** must've made between us…_but if so, why couldn't he remember it? And why was it so overwhelming and unwelcome now? It didn't make any sense…_Kagome couldn't have done it, could she?_

That thought made him stiffen all over and the hanyou opened his eyes, snapping them wide as saucers. _She's not a demon, not a half-demon, but she has the powers of a priestess…_but if Kagome had made the link why didn't she seem aware of it?

Frustrated, he shook his head, ears folded backward so far and so hard that he appeared to have lost them. _I have to get away from her, try to think about it somewhere she isn't…_

He moved toward the end of the branch that supported him, his finger sticky with the wounded tree's sap. He'd stop by the river first and wash his fingers there. The thought of licking them clean still made him feel as if he'd vomit. At the end of the maple's branch he leapt to the ground as softly as he could. His heels dug into the wet, dewy grass and he stumbled some, cursing his clumsiness vehemently. With a glance toward the hut he wondered, vaguely, if Kagome's clumsiness had rubbed off onto him…despite himself he felt his lips curl in a smirking smile briefly before he forced it into a scowl.

_Don't think about her fondly, damn you! That'll just encourage it…you know if she's stuck here the last thing she wants is to be stuck with a miserable, no good jackass like you. She said so herself, never wants to see you again…never wants to see **me** again…_ he couldn't help but gulp and look away from the hut then, his fangs biting into his cheeks as he made a rush toward the deeper, darker, thicker forest surrounding the village. In a second he was in those branches, leaping away as fast as he could, praying that he didn't prove to be anymore of a klutz on the newly deposited dew.

* * *

Blinking through the dark, angrily swiping her tears away—shed for some ridiculous fantasy dream that she'd woken abruptly from—Kagome felt as if she was going to throw up. There was something warm and fuzzy lying on her stomach; the pressure there was both comforting and sickening at once. Weakly she tried to pet Shippo and was rewarded with a tiny snuggling motion as he settled himself just below her breasts—right over her stomach. _Oh no…_she swallowed compulsively, _what did I eat?_

She waited it out with several deep breaths, and eventually Shippo's pressure on her stomach stopped bothering her so much. She let out a small sigh of relief…

_(Don't think about her fondly, damn you! That'll just encourage it…you know if she's stuck here the last thing she wants is to be stuck with a miserable, no good jackass like you. She said so herself, never wants to see you again…never wants to see **me** again…)_

Confusedly Kagome jerked, recognizing that although she'd heard it loud and clear, those thoughts weren't her own. _Oh god,_ she moaned a little in the dark, praying none of the others heard her, _Am I going insane now?_ She had to have imagined that…it was only what she _wanted_ Inuyasha to be thinking. She _wanted_ him to miss her, to want her beside him…but she'd long since started to think that she was wasting her life, her hope. The hanyou was too immature, too confused. _He never thinks about me…_she fought the tears disgustedly, angry that they should still arise so easily, even when she'd struggled to destroy her feelings for him.

Resigned, she once more tried to settle herself, to call to the darkness of sleep…but although a haze descended over her body and mind she remained half-awake, hearing and sensing the others' steady monotonous breathing around her until dawn's light began to peak unrestrainedly from around the edges of the hut's flimsy veil. It wasn't long at all before she felt Shippo stir against her in jerky movements, dreaming. She heard him mumbling incoherently in grunts, growls, and squeaks. Kaede rose just after the sun did, slowly, shuffling. Occasionally she moaned or grunted with arthritis. Eventually she disappeared to go make her rounds with the villagers.

The moment that Kaede left she heard Miroku rise as well, from where he'd been sleeping nearby Sango. Kagome heard the monk fiddle with his prayer beads idly and then, as he was leaving, he made a low sound of pleasure and chuckled to himself. These sounds were immediately followed by Sango's gasp of shock, and then there was a thudding sound as apparently, the demon slayer punished the monk for his wandering hands.

"Hentai!" she hissed. "At _least_ wait till I'm awake before you try your dirty tricks!"

"What? Dear Sango, how could you think me so vulgar?" he _did_ sound hurt, "I was tucking you in! It was chilly last night! I wouldn't want you to get sick!"

"I believe you about as much as I would Naraku." She whispered, laughter shaking her words, despite the insult she'd been trying to get across to him.

_Sometimes they make me so jealous…_ Kagome squeezed her eyes shut, tightly, wishing that she had fallen asleep and wasn't merely pretending to be unconscious. _I don't want to feel so alone…Sango and Miroku don't deserve my jealousy; they deserve my happiness for them, my support…_though technically, she thought, Miroku's groping didn't really mean all that much. _But it's better by far than what Inuyasha and I do—fight continuously!_ What was she thinking again? How many times had she accidentally caught herself thinking of him as if he were her other half, a boyfriend, a—she stopped her train of thoughts, her body stiffening on the futon in response. _What was I going to think? A **lover?** That's insane! I'm still in high school! Why in the seven hells would I seriously think along those lines? I was raised better than that!_ And yet she knew it'd been about to spring and dance through her thoughts, like a ballerina across a stage, or a butterfly through a meadow…she couldn't deny it…

"Kagome?"

She sat straight up, knocking Shippo from her stomach and into her lap when Sango's voice reached her. "What!" she snapped, as if they'd been accusing her of something. There was a sensation of heat trying to eclipse her face…she struggled to bury it. _They can't read your thoughts…_

Sango and Miroku blinked at her in worry. Their stares weighed her shoulders down and she bit her lip, looking away. When she'd turned her head she found Shippo was staring up at her, a confused and dazed expression covering his face. "Kagome?" he muttered, weakly.

"Uh…yes, Shippo?" she asked, beginning to regain her control.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, slowly, breathing in deep and letting it out, "Yes, Shippo," she glanced at Miroku and Sango, who were both still staring at her with worry. "I'm fine…I just…woke up last night and never fell back asleep." She let her shoulders sag, tried to force the tension that had kept her rigid most of the night away and out of her system. She saw all three of their gazes fill with sympathy and another thought struck her suddenly: _the well…they're not only feeling bad for me because I didn't sleep very good…they're thinking about the well…_

When she looked up at Miroku and Sango both seemed to nod at once, understanding, although it was Miroku who voiced their thoughts. "Let's go to the well and see if it will let you pass, shall we?" he smiled lightly, and she tried to return the gesture, but her heart felt about as happy as a rotten tomato. Any more upsets to it and it might just squish into a big ugly, nasty mess.

She sighed, "Yea…"

They hovered nearby, waiting around the rim of the well, watching the schoolgirl lean against it, peering over the edge and into the dark depths. Kilala mewed once, a tiny sound, weak and fragile. It seemed to encompass all of their hope that was so firmly rooted on the outcome of Kagome's experiment.

The schoolgirl leaned once more toward the well, taking a deep breath and praying silently for good luck. She looked once more back at Miroku, with Shippo on his shoulder, at Sango with Kilala in her hands, and smiled faintly. "Here goes nothing…" she whispered.

"It won't be nothing…" Miroku tried to promise her, but she couldn't help but frown at his words—wasn't that a double negative? What did that mean again? But she couldn't remember, her simple algebraic math skills had evaporated in front of the yawning well's mouth.

Without any further thought she tossed herself over the edge, and fell. The dark swallowed her quickly. She sensed the magic prickling her skin again, touching her everywhere, just as it always did before it transported her through time…but unlike all of those times before this jump, this magic died abruptly, leaving her suddenly cold and numb.

Shivering, she hit the bottom of the well, her fingers sinking into the moist earth. She gasped for air, suddenly feeling as if she were drowning…her mind swirled, her ears rang, her throat seemed as if it were trying to close up…she choked one word out of it before her terror consumed her, "_Help!_"

She saw faint bubbles rising around her: water. She could feel the freezing chill of it on her skin, soaking all the way to her bones. When she drew in a breath she could feel the water shooting into her lungs. Her head felt light and dizzy while her body and chest seemed tight and full of lead. _I can't breathe!_

The magic tingled and burned along her body then, and she _knew_ suddenly that the well wasn't taking her to any _one_ time, it was taking her to _all_ of them at once…_and she didn't know how to escape it…_

Warm hands wrapped around her waist then, and Kagome felt her mind and body jerked back into the reality, into the solid world of the Feudal era again. She took one deep gasp of air—felt that her lungs were in fact clear of water—and then was aware of a surge of weightlessness and blinked as light flooded her world. The magic ceased completely, disappearing. There was a jolt—the hands around her body were tight but gentle and reassuring—and she felt herself collapse. Beneath her there was green, grass she realized, as her fingers closed around its chilled, dewy wetness…

And the owner of the hands that had saved her from the innards of the well—he wore bright red and smelled—strangely—of maples. The haze cleared from her mind with a few deep breaths and she turned confused, blinking eyes on her rescuer.

_Inuyasha._ The hanyou stared at her with his brows puckered, his lips held tightly, and in his eyes, the amber jewels that glittered and sent shivers through her bones, she saw worry, she saw—fear? And on her waist she realized his hands were still clutching her, still holding her protectively. _He saved me!_ She thought, stunned and grateful at once, a smile began at the corners of her lips. Then she had a second thought, _there I go again, ready to fall into his arms and think that his saving me means something…he saves me because it's what he **has** to do, for his pride. If Kikyo were around he would've left me to choke to death…_her small smile started to twist at the thought, a frown ready to be born onto her face.

She saw his eyes change suddenly, from worry and concern to outrage and disgust. "That's _not_ true!" he growled at her, and she felt his claws at her waist, tightening, emphasizing…

_Did I speak out loud?_ She blinked at him confusedly and saw the hanyou's gold eyes clearing of emotion and widening. His ears folded backward and she felt his hands leave her waist.

Growling, Inuyasha stood up, glaring at Miroku, Sango, Kilala, and Shippo, who stood by the well still, staring witlessly at the schoolgirl and the hanyou. "What were you thinking!" he demanded, snarling, "She almost drowned!"

"There's no water in the well!" Shippo pointed out. He was perched on one corner of the wooden menace, and had been about to jump into its depths seconds ago when Kagome had first cried out, only to be knocked aside by a red streak whose name just happened to be Inuyasha. None of the group had had a chance, really, to jump to the girl's rescue. They'd watched her leap into the well, fall into the darkness and remain quiet for several moments before she cried out for help. They didn't know why but they'd all moved to give her what she'd called for—except that Inuyasha had appeared out of nowhere and done it before they could.

Inuyasha stopped, his face filling with confusion. "I…she…" his ears popped forward once and then fell backward again. A scowl buried even his bafflement then and he ground out, "_The bitch thought she was drowning!"_

From behind him Kagome shouted, "Sit!" and the hanyou plummeted to the ground: _thump!_

Silently, and with carefully blank expressions, Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kilala watched as Kagome jumped to her feet and stomped past the indisposed Inuyasha, who was grumbling and cursing to himself in frustration. As she past the group they were the only ones that saw the tears that were building in her eyes. "I'm going back to Kaede's…" she murmured before moving beyond them and following the path toward the village.

On the ground Inuyasha growled like a vicious dog, his face a mask of rage. The group stared at him in silent shock when the hanyou ripped himself up from the wet earth and made a run for the trees. In a second they couldn't see the red of his haori any longer at all…

It was only then that Shippo broke their stunned silence, announcing, "He's heading toward the village too…"

Sango looked toward the kitsune on the edge of the well, perplexed, "Why on earth would he go that way! Kagome's going there…" her words hung in the air, the sudden implications so heavy that had one of them reached out they could've almost certainly felt it in the air. Sango blanched at her own words and looked to Miroku, blurting, "I think we should go after her and—"

"No." Miroku frowned and shook his head slowly.

"But they'll _kill_ each other!" Sango and Shippo were both tense and eager to spring to Kagome's aid.

"No." Miroku repeated, remembering the hanyou that had faced him the day before, and wondering, suddenly, how Inuyasha—who hadn't been with them in the meadow when Kagome had jumped into the well—had _known_ what Kagome had been thinking, and been there so quickly to save her…_as if…no, it couldn't be that…_

"Miroku?" Shippo spoke, quietly, shaking fearfully. The little kitsune knew too well Inuyasha's wrath, and he wanted to protect his surrogate mother from such punishment. He _hated_ the thought of not knowing what was befalling her even as they spoke about it.

The monk looked up at the kit and the demon slayer, Kilala in her arms, his gaze expressing how important he thought their neutrality was. The violet orbs were dark with a new and bewilderingly tangible possibility. _Inuyasha spoke to Kagome when he pulled her from the well as if she'd spoken but she hadn't at all…as if something we couldn't hear were being exchanged…_

"Give them a few minutes, then we'll follow." He nodded, grimly.

"But she could be dead by then!" Shippo squeaked, shivering.

Miroku's gaze locked knowingly with Sango's. "No, I don't think she will be."

* * *

Endnote: Okay...THANK YOU ALL who took the time to try out my latest story..._**NefCanuck**_ I think that's what I'm going for here at first...I want them to hate each other and then they'll slowly warm back up until they can't keep pretending anymore, a sort of tension thing. Believe me when I sayI know about the whole hatred thing...MY Miroku I think got mad at me once becuase he wanted me so badly but I just never gave in (grins sheepishly) I just teased him and teased him...and so he ended up hating an ignoring me straight for a week or two...that's what I'm going for, in my own reading experience tension will keep me reading for hours, so I decided to experiment with it myself (another sheepish grin)...THANK YOU for giving me a try! **_toxiclollipop_** I don't remember saying that but if I did I meant it the way that when someone REALLY likes you they'll actually be mean, which makes no sense but it's the way some ppl are, so if/when I said that that's what I was trying to say...and as far as that pesky well...hmm...(grins) wait and see..._**Yami-Yugi-Girl**_ Thank you! _**sarah**_ the answer is, simply: YES! And if I do a good job it'll be in a big way too...I hope...(wipes her forehead) this story makes me nervous...but maybe it's just the pressure right now of trying to perfect SWFM and WOAWO...I hope this one will take off as SWFM did...(prays) I loved the idea when it first came...it WILL happen eventually (grins) after I torture you for a while you know (winks) _**Rinicat**_ ah, you write your own? (may have to go check it out...(grins)) you know I was going to use the "Rini" from your name as a character once...but it didn't work out...I think it means "little bunny?" (can't actually remember...) _**snowecat **_well, you know how guys are...that's what this story will be about eventually I hope, the changes that one or the other of both would make as they get older...and I LOVE snow leopards (grins) I wrote a novel with a character (this isn't published tho(sighs)) that looked a little like a snow leopard (the entire story was about personified big cats, my little sister adored it...) yep... 


	5. Possibilities

**Disc:** I don't own either of them. Not Inuyasha or even the lyrics, the lyrics are Avril Lavigne's this time.

**A/N:** All right guys...I QUIT the play! YAYS! I just feel degraded there most of the time anyway, our director yells at me and gives all the higher roles to the SAME bloody people over and over again, without fail. He never gives other people a chance or any appreciation no matter how long they've worked for him (in my case three of my four high school years) or how loyally. Anyway, so I finally ditched him. YAY ME! If I could be so bold (sheepish look) could I beg a celebration 50 reviews for this story? We broke 30...I guess I better count my blessings for _that_ eh? (nods to herself) sometimes I get greedy no? I'm sorry...but I WILL be on the look out for the lucky number fifty...(nods again) Kay...Someone asked about Mrs. Higurashi's role in all this so here it is: this chapter reveals a little of it. READ and learn! Lastly this is the finish to the cliffy AND **important reminder** I had one person confused (and telling me you guys are is a very GOOD thing, cuz I NEED to know) over when/how this is working out. Mrs. Higurashi's story is a little more than ten years into the future from the anime/manga while the Inu-gang's story is set only a little into the future (that means that instead of being 15 or so Kagome is 17 in this story in the Feudal era. The well ISN'T messing up time or anything. The Inu-gang's story is essentially ALL flashback. I'm just explaining what happened that kept Kagome from going home while I also tell what became of her family on our side of time...) is that any clearer? Anyway...enjoy! All questions and such welcome always!

**

* * *

****Possibilities**

_(And I wanna believe you_

_When you tell me that it will be okay_

_Yea I try to believe you_

_But I don't…)_

* * *

By about 10:30 I had Souta's breakfast all made. He's always liked scrambled eggs with plenty of cheese so I made him a whole plateful easily. It made me feel alive again to be cooking. Smelling the burners charring little crumbs into infinity, seeing the steam rising off the stove, hearing the sizzle of the cheese. Waking up the senses can sometimes enlighten the mind, or, in my case, dull the memories. 

With his eggs heaping and steaming, I called Souta in from outside and then returned to the fridge for some orange juice. I planned to eat nothing but cereal, but Souta was going to need his protein if he really meant to tear through the shrine, cleaning things out and taking inventory the way that Gramps had shown him as a teenager. By the time his juice was poured I heard him clomping in scraping the mud off his boots.

He was grinning when I looked up, "Mom!" he almost shouted, and I couldn't help but grin right back at him for how contagious it was.

"Yes, Souta?"

"Look what I found!" he brought forward a large, dusty book that I didn't recognize at all. My blank stare must've told him this because a moment later he added; "It's a book with copied and organized parchments from a 150 years ago!"

"Okay…" I didn't see why that made him so excited. The 1850s? I tried to think of anything interesting in that era that our shrine might've seen and kept track of but my mind drew up blank.

"C'mon Mom," he chuckled, "This book was organized by great-grandpa Asenka from really old parchments he found lurking around the shrine that he felt took up too much space. So he cataloged them and then got rid of them." He shook his head as he sat down and admired his eggs for a moment before placing the old dusty book next to the food. He either didn't want to notice, or just didn't see the frown that fell over my face. _Gosh! Right next to his eggs! Yes, just like old times! Souta always had to be doing something at the table!_

I sat down, resigning myself to his book-reading, cereal-laden bowl in my hands. The spoon clinked against my bowl as I ate, breaking the silence. After chewing and swallowing a little, I decided to ask Souta what records the book cataloged just as he began gobbling his eggs. "What records does it talk about?"

He looked up at me and grinned, I could see little bits of orange-yellow egg in his teeth and I cringed and laughed at him at once. "Chew your food, Souta! I thought I raised you better than that!"

He swallowed hurriedly and snickered at me, "Yea, you did, Mom, but I wanted to see you laugh again." His eyes held a hint of sadness and I looked away from it before it could mar my happiness too much. He cleared his throat and answered my question. "Great-grandpa Asenka talks about records from the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Or so he thinks. They weren't all clearly marked, but dates by the scientists of the time were able to give pretty accurate guesses."

Despite his other babble I knew _exactly_ why he would look through an obscure book like that. It had nothing to do with the shrine and everything to do with that time period itself. He was looking for his sister, I knew it without having to hear it or see it hinted anywhere. Who _wouldn't_ take advantage of such resources in such a situation? I couldn't blame him for looking—but I _did_ resent it a little. And, although I _hated_ to think that it was true, I knew that somewhere deep inside I was just as curious too. Even so I refused to get my hopes up.

"That sounds interesting…did you find that in a box that Gramps put away, or on one of the shelves in the storage shed?" I didn't really have any reason to ask, and I didn't really care about his answer, I just wanted to hear his voice. It was far preferable to the sounds of silverware or chopsticks against the plates and bowls.

"On a shelf…" he murmured quickly before shoveling in more eggs, chewing readily. I noticed that whatever he was reading about seemed to be interesting. He hadn't turned the page in some time, but his eyes never left the page. Despite myself I wanted to ask what he was reading about—but I pushed that thought away and tried something completely different.

"How are your grades, Souta?" I smiled at him, pausing between one spoonful and the next.

"Average." He answered, curtly, eyes still in the book. I could've stuck my finger up my nose while talking to him and he wouldn't have noticed at all. _The only difference between talking to the cat and Souta right now is that the cat can only meow back at me…but at least Ashi **will** look me in the eye…_

Desperately I tried another subject, "Found any interesting girls lately?"

_That_ made him look up, but I didn't like the darkness in his eyes. There was something he had to tell me but didn't want to share. He shrugged, "Yes, actually." He cleared his throat and grinned at me, letting his chopsticks fall unused into the eggs, "Her name is Marie."

I must've blinked at the sound of the foreign name because Souta's grin spread wider, his dark eyes seemed to mist over with some fond recollection. "Yea, I know what you're thinking Mom, weird name, right?"

"She's not Japanese?" I asked, immediately anticipating that fact. Not that that bothered me. I was curious to meet this girl if Souta chose to bring her home.

"No, she's an exchange student from California, majoring in Japanese." He practically beamed about her, and I couldn't help the smirk that crept over my features as he began to describe her with all the vigor and excitement of any love struck boy, "She has reddish-brown hair and green eyes, Mom! She looks Irish almost!" he seemed giddy, "But her Japanese is horrible!"

"No better than your English I would assume." I shot right back at him, still smirking.

Souta laughed and shook his head, "Yea, Mom, I'll bet…I'm going to have to bring her here someday, if you want, so you two can meet."

I nodded, "I'd like that, Souta. She sounds wonderful! We can have her babble in English for us."

"She's _good_ at it, Mom! Better than my professors by far!"

I couldn't help but snicker at him, "Well I should hope her English is good, if that's the language she was born speaking!"

Souta's blush surprised me and he looked back at his eggs, picking up his chopsticks. He mumbled to the orange-yellow mass on his plate and I shook my head. For a young man in his early 20s sometimes Souta's youthfulness still surprised me. He was excited about this girl one moment and then embarrassed about her the next. I sensed that there was a deeper reason underneath it but I didn't dare ask…I sensed something huge and horrible and I just didn't have the courage to face it. If Souta needed to tell me, I trusted that he would, but not until then…

Suddenly he looked up from his plate again from where he was fiddling with the eggs using his chopsticks, and blurted, "What if we could go through the well, Mom, and we could find Kagome?"

I stared at him, blankly, too stunned for several seconds to believe what he'd just said. Then, slowly, I frowned. "Souta…"

"I know, I know Mom, you've _tried_ it, haven't you? And it doesn't work…?" despite his words he still couldn't keep the hope from his voice. But I knew better…

"Yes," I sighed, heavily, feeling older than the mountains in China, "I did try. I tried when she'd been gone a year just by jumping in myself, day after day." I felt the tears prickling my eyes and looked away from him, trying to blink them away, "Then when two years came and went, you remember, I called in the priests. I had them do their incantations and their holy chants. I had some Catholic priests come once, for heaven's sake!" one tear came and I swiped it away angrily, sniffling once. "_Nothing_ worked!"

Across the table Souta's head drooped too and I heard him admit something I'd never really suspected before, "You know, I tried too. Whenever you weren't trying I _was_ trying. It never once felt any different than falling to the bottom of a well to me. Kagome must've been the only one of us with any power to make it work…" when I looked up at him I saw him swipe at one eye, irritated apparently that he was subject to emotion too, "I even tried to do it just now while you were making breakfast!" he confessed, and I found I couldn't stop staring at him, imagining him jumping fearlessly into the accursed thing's depths, praying for it to work this time…and each attempt ending in failure as he looked back up and saw not the sunlight that Kagome always described, but the darkness of the roof of our shrine's well house.

"Oh Souta," I sighed, and all at once the tears came, "I'm so sorry…"

He looked at me with surprise, though I saw his tears too, hiding in the depths of his inky pools, "Why Mom? You haven't done anything to be sorry for…"

"I don't know, I just am." I tried to clear the tears away but there were too many still and my insides, my heart, still ached. "First your father and your grandmother, then your sister and now Gramps…" I started sobbing, my tears bounced into my cereal bowl though I hardly noticed, "I just don't know what to do anymore!" I'd been fighting that thought, that sense of hopelessness for so long, and yet feeling it there all the same…admitting it now even just to Souta left me hot with shame.

Now when I looked up at my son, Souta's face appeared through the swimming blur of my tears, to be set and hard with determination. I watched as he grabbed up the book that was sitting next to his plate and rose from his chair to walk to my side. "Mom, I want to show you something…" he whispered as he came closer.

"What?" I had no idea of the size of the bomb he was about to drop into my lap.

He set the dusty old book next to me, nudging the cereal clear, "In here," he muttered, flipping through the old, ripped, stained, dusty pages. When he reached one in the very back of the book entitled _Marriages_ he scrolled down until his index finger was underneath a name I recognized easily, because I'd been writing it along with my own for many years now.

"Higurashi." I read, simply. Confused, I looked to my son, about to ask what he was trying to tell me when he started to answer before I had spoken at all.

"Mom, I found this right away when I went out there. I spent my time reading this record and searching through the rest of this book over and over again until it finally made me crazy enough to try that damned well again…"

I made the connection immediately. "You think that this is Kagome's name mentioned here?" I frowned, feeling the beginnings of anger stirring inside me, "Why would you think it was Kagome? I don't see any reason why it couldn't be some other Higurashi…and are you even sure this is the right time period?" I wanted to hit him up one side of the head to force out his silly ideas…I think he hated the thought of just letting Kagome go. He couldn't do it. She was his big sister but he was the boy, he was the "man" of our house, not counting Gramps. So when Kagome was lost I think Souta blamed himself too, for not being able to help her somehow…this was just his revisiting that guilt, trying to do something rather than just lie down and accept "fate."

"I don't think that there were any Higurashis then, Mom. And did you look and see the last name of the man this Higurashi woman was getting married to…?" I followed his finger to meet the kanji on the other side of the paper, and squinted my eyes at it.

"I can't read it very well Souta…" but even as I spoke the words and the characters became clear and I realized what it said…before I even knew what I'd done my hands had risen to cover my mouth as I gaped in shock. Beside me Souta was nodding solemnly, a strange light shining in his eyes. It wasn't really hope—it was pride. As if we were looking at the future, seeing his children, instead of looking at the past, seeing strange names that we just desperately _thought_ were people we knew…

"You see it don't you? That name…"

There were no first names here, no Taros, no Kens, no Kagomes, no Akiras, there were only family last names. At some point in the past, 500 years ago Souta assured me, a woman with the last name Higurashi had come with a man who had a very peculiar last name. They'd come to this shrine and had a record of their marriage set down on parchment and stored away safely. Had the parchment recorded their first names 500 years ago? Had great-grandpa Asenka thrown them out with the original parchment to do his cataloging en masse? The names were all identical now with last names only, women on one side, the man they married on the other. The years written at the top were from 1534 to 1604, but there was no way to tell when the wedding between the Higurashi woman and her strangely named man had taken place…

And yet, although I knew that it was still _very_ shaky, I felt the first tiny breaths of hope surge within me. I'm sure that had I looked in a mirror I might've seen that same shining in Souta's eyes reflected identically in mine…

"Yes, Souta, I do see it…A woman named Higurashi married a man named Tetsuseiga…"

Souta nodded slowly, "Mom, who else could it be? Honestly! Who would take that last name…?"

I was hard pressed to answer, even though I knew that there was only one answer. It had to be the hanyou that I had learned to hate and despise, that I had learned to blame the loss of my daughter on…but now…I couldn't help but see the smile of the girl I'd know as my daughter in my memories, beaming happily as she talked about that hanyou. And when I looked to the records that name was still there, set in ink, copied and recopied down through 500 years of history.

And then Souta sent my mind spinning for a second time. "Did you know that I looked through this book further and checked a few of the others and…" he stopped, his hands shook as he tried to flip through the book, as if looking for evidence, "_Mom,_ there are _birth_ records too…the Tetsuseiga family is still alive _today._"

"Today…?"

"Yes—they still live _here_ too, some of them, right in the city. Right here in Tokyo."

Neither of us finished breakfast that morning. We abandoned the kitchen to dig through the records stored in the shrine, like pirates in the Caribbean looking for buried gold…but we weren't looking for money—we were looking for the shining, shimmering amber of a certain hanyou's eyes, and the bright, powerful personality of a sibling and daughter that we'd once thought completely lost.

* * *

_(500 years and one decade ago...as mentioned in my notes (winks))_

He reached the hut and stormed in, his face a mask of simple fury. Kaede was carving something—likely they were arrowheads. With all the purifying that was going on plenty of arrows were lost, new ones always needed constructing. Kaede was the one that generally did this, working with bits of metal and wood, sharpening the tools to make them effective, and then tying them carefully to a shaft of wood. When the hanyou crashed into her hut Kaede glanced up at him, alarmed.

"Inuyasha…?" she asked, her voice gravelly and thick with confusion.

"Get out!" he snarled at her, rage burning in his amber eyes. The ears were either invisible or turned so far backward that she couldn't see them anymore.

"Inuyasha! Have—" she started with a new tone now, angry, indignant at his wrath that was directed so unfairly on her, but the hanyou didn't waste time with her.

"_Get out now!"_ the threat in his low, growling voice told her that if she didn't comply he might _really_ become dangerous. In the interest of her self-preservation, Kaede pushed her self to her feet and left the hut, a scowl covering her face. She left the hut and walked into the village just as Kagome appeared from the path that led to the meadow and the well that usually took her home. With her eyes directed to the ground she never caught sight of Kaede's retreating form, never suspected the tempest that awaited her inside that small, seemingly innocent hut…

She was already crying when she grabbed hold of the shroud over the hut's doorway and started to pull it back and speak out at once, "Kaede," she sniffled, "The w—"

A flash of red grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her into the hut. Kagome squeaked in surprise and slight fear when she realized who it was…_but how…?_ She'd left him in the meadow, subdued, or rather; kissing the earth…_he would've had to run like a madman…er hanyou, to get here before me…_when she met his fierce, amber-tinted gaze she felt chills rush through her, and once more the sensation that had overcome her in the well attacked her, closing her throat, choking her. _He's **really** angry…two can play that game…_

"Kagome, I—" he started, his pitch low, almost a growl, but Kagome never gave him a chance to finish.

"No, you just _shut up_!" she let the tears come, her throat tried to close up and she found herself gasping, half-choking on emotions she'd thought she'd buried, "I just found out that I _can't go home_, Inuyasha! I _can't go home!_" without even realizing that she was doing it she reached out and pushed him away, and although she didn't stop to think about it, the hanyou's face had changed drastically. The mask of rage had evaporated; leaving in its wake a look of half-shock, half-resentment…but I his eyes there was only a strange, deep pain. But he said nothing as she continued, and didn't react to her physical attacks.

"I _can't go home ever again_ and **_you_** come chasing after me to growl at me for subduing you! Do you care about anyone but yourself at all? Do you even have that capacity! You're nothing but a cold-hearted, thoughtless bastard and I don't know why any of us put up with you!" she spat the words at him, shaking and sobbing at the same time, wounding him, or trying to, desperately, even though part of her understood that it was a mistake, a misunderstanding…she could see it in his eyes. But even as she registered the pain in his face she also understood that it was too late. Too late to save the crumbling, disintegrating pieces, and too late for her to stop the raging emotions that were tearing her apart. _I can't go home ever again and Inuyasha refuses to understand that! Why can't he just hold me and tell me that he'll make everything okay, even if it is a lie! His arms would make everything okay…if he could just find it in him somewhere to love me…I could keep breathing, just keep breathing…_even as she thought it the three words became her mantra: _Just keep breathing, just keep breathing…_

Inuyasha took a step back from her, his hands slowly rising to hide themselves in the massive, billowing, red sleeves of his fire-rat haori. A scowl slowly covered the weaker emotions, the more subtle plays of pain and grief that were running rampant through him. The good-old scowl, trusty and loyal till the end, covered them and protected his inner heart from further obvious damage. _The first rule of any fight is to keep your weaknesses from you enemy…and I guess Kagome is now my enemy…_he hated the way such a thought made him feel, his stomach balled up, his palms sweated, his head and ears felt as if they were on fire, his heart raced as if he were fighting Naraku…in the back of his mind he felt the strange link, still there, but muddled with the intensity of their feelings. He wondered if it was possible for her to _feel_ his weaknesses, and a new fear opened within him: _get away…_

"Feh—bitch!" he shouted, eyes narrowing in anger, lips pulling backward to reveal his gleaming, white fangs, "I wasn't going to yell at you for sitting me! I was going to _apologize!_" and that had been true, after he'd yelled at her a little and talked things out he'd planned to apologize, to restore the peace that he longed for, that he so genuinely missed between them—but now those plans had been shot into the dust. He saw the impact of his confession on her, she flinched, pulled back, shrank before him. He also smelled more tears escaping her, and saw, as well as sensed, her sudden, fierce shaking, heard the troubled breathing. Despite the pain it caused him to see her so miserable his pride refused to do what his instincts wanted him to and so he pushed past her, making sure to bump her out of the way as he went with a snarl.

"You can forget it now, bitch!" he growled back at her, and disappeared.

Behind him Kagome crumpled like a boneless chicken breast and started sobbing. When the others found her a few minutes later their faces were gray with horror. Sango, Shippo, and even Kilala threw Miroku carefully weighed evil glares, letting him know that his error wouldn't be forgotten.

All four of them gathered about the stricken schoolgirl and tried to calm her, but Kagome's tears her hard and relentless. It was into the afternoon before she stopped sobbing and regained control of herself.

It wasn't just her fight with Inuyasha she was crying for—it was the realization that she would likely live out the rest of her days without seeing her mother, her brother, her grandfather, her school, her friends, her other relatives, modern technology, and even Buyo the cat _ever_ again. The world seemed to have risen up and swallowed her whole. She felt as if she'd died when she'd fallen into that well, felt the magic work over her—and then nearly kill her by spreading her consciousness out thin in the millions of times that it was linked to…she realized that whether she died in that well that morning or in her bed as an old woman in a hut like Kaede one thing would always be true: she would die in the Feudal era.

_I'm going to die 500 years away from my family…_

* * *

Later, as Kagome dozed in the warmer afternoon, Miroku and Sango snuck away from the sleeping schoolgirl and the two dreaming youkai around her, twitching comically. To anyone that hadn't watched Kagome cry herself to sleep the scene was adorable, but as the monk and the demon slayer slipped away their hearts were grim. 

"What do we do know, Miroku?" Sango sighed, gazing regretfully toward the hut where inside the sleepers dreamed onward, "The well really doesn't work…" she frowned and gestured randomly at the forest where they knew Inuyasha was pouting somewhere. "And Inuyasha and Kagome are still at each other's throats!" she eyed him suddenly as if it was his fault, "Are you sure Inuyasha wasn't lying when he said he loved Kagome?"

Miroku sighed, the violet eyes were dark with something close to guilt. "Sango, I don't know much anymore…I don't know what went wrong. But," he started anew, the staff switching from one shoulder to the other with a jangling ring, "Did you happen to notice how quickly Inuyasha came to rescue her? He must've been moving even before she cried out, and he wasn't there to wish her luck, as we were, and we didn't even know anything was wrong!" he could see that she wasn't impressed and paused, cocking his head at her, "Sango my dear, what troubles you?"

"It's nothing." She frowned, contradicting herself, "But I just can't help but think that your theories must be flawed. They aren't getting either of them or us anywhere…"

"Well of course they don't get _us_ anywhere!" Miroku teased, stepping closer to her, only to look wounded when Sango stepped backward, avoiding the groping hand that was already reaching forward.

"I'm serious, Miroku." She sighed and looked away from him, focusing on the ground, "I think I'm running out of faith on this one…"

Miroku made a face, "_Never_ say that, my dear Sango! Never!" his voice was deep, almost commanding, and it sent shivers through her realizing how serious he really was about it. _Faith, keep faith…_but when she searched herself the only thing she found were the memories of her friend's tears, sticky wet moisture everywhere, little droplets of sheer grief…

"What makes you think Inuyasha was telling the truth?" she demanded, meeting his gaze with open skepticism.

"Well right now…" he paused, his gaze becoming unfocused as he recalled something, "Do you remember in the meadow how after Inuyasha saved her he spoke to her…"

She frowned, "I thought he was calling her more names or something."

"I'm pretty sure he spoke to her as if answering something that hadn't been spoken aloud…and the way he was there so quickly, and the way he said she thought she was _drowning…_Kagome never said those things." He eyed his conspirator carefully; trying to understand whether he was imagining these clues himself or if he was right, but Sango's face was tight and unreadable. She seemed skeptical but undecided.

After a moment she shook her head, "I don't know…you _are_ right, some of those things are strange but what do you think they mean?"

He blinked at her, stunned that she didn't know…or maybe she just didn't remember…? He cleared his throat and began to explain what he suspected, "In the higher youkai there can be bonds that form between individuals that allow them to communicate as if they were one organism." He repeated this description almost word for word the way that his own masters had instructed him on it. Then he hadn't understood what they'd meant, and hadn't known really what it meant for a very long time until he'd actually come across two youkai that had such a bond—two beautiful sisters that were harmless, unless, that is they were separated from one another for a prolonged period of time. When another demon had captured one of the sisters the other had gone on a mad rampage, desperately, madly, searching for her partner. Miroku had done what his masters had trained him to do at such times—he placed a spell on her to subdue her link, which allowed her to return to her sanity and from there they easily tracked down the other demon and freed the trapped sister.

He might've been inclined to tell this story to the demon slayer, but refrained, remembering that when he shared such tales there always seemed to be an abundance of "flies," as well as the slaps that killed them. Also he didn't think she'd be inclined to believe the deeper, spiritual meanings that he'd been taught that the link represented. It was said that demons only formed the bonds between blood relatives or soul mates, and because Inuyasha and Kagome seemed to be anything but at the present time he decided against revealing this to her. So instead he looked to her, hoping that his bland, textbook description had done the trick…and he was relieved to see a strange sort of understanding dawning over her as she thought it over.

"But, Miroku…" she frowned; "Kagome isn't a demon at all!" she seemed stunned at the very idea.

"No, she isn't, but she _does_ have spiritual power. The link may be possible…certainly with everything we've seen in the recent years, Sango my dear, you wouldn't think it impossible, would you? Are you confident enough to bet me something for it…?" the demon slayer did not miss the twinkle in his eye.

"Miroku I don't think we know enough about these links or about what it applies to and how just yet for us to start betting." But despite her frown there was a smirk hiding in her eyes, a smile just below the surface. "And even if there were a link—what would it prove? How could it be useful if all they ever do is fight? And how could it _last_ with the way they treat each other?" she demanded, her frown growing steadily deeper and more genuine.

The monk sighed, sadly resigning himself to the realities of Sango's words. "You are right, my lovely Sango." His violet eyes shone darkly in the afternoon light, Sango couldn't tell if that was a good thing for her butt's chances at an unwelcome grope or not, "I suppose it matters little in the end…" his eyes met hers more solidly now, new hope lighting them from the inside out, "But there is still hope. There is the monk, Saishi,that Kaede mentioned last night. We shall have to trek that way and give him a visit."

"Ah, yes," Sango rolled her eyes once briefly, though the smirk still lingered within easy sight, "And we both know a monk will solve all our problems!"

"Yes I will," Miroku grinned mischievously, his hands twitched longingly at his sides, dying for their grope, but he restrained them, "When Kagome is ready, take her to bathe…or something," he added the latter part when he noticed the blush on her face, "And talk to her about Inuyasha, if you can. If you can't," he shrugged and grinned handsomely, "Make her feel better!" the lecherous gleam in his eye made it clear to her that he wasn't thinking innocently.

"Hentai!" she growled and turned round quickly to go back into the tent.

Miroku smirked to himself when she'd left, wondering if she'd forget by the time Kagome was ready to go with her that he just might feel like following…_yes, if only…_

* * *

Endnote: Hehe...I like Miroku and Sango...(snickers)...Onto the reviews... 

_**lynnie1-23**_ I know it takes a lot out of you...but I promise things WILL get better...and I hope that this chapter answered your question: they can both hear each other's thoughts, but only on occasion (usually a delicate occasion) and Kagome might feel it a little less though because she's only human... _**andarial**_ thank you! I hope you keep enjoying it! Squee! YAYS! _**Rinicat**_ I shall endeavor to investigate this Ghostly Love you speak of...(grins) _**SerenaClearwater**_ THANK YOU! I liked the sap bit too (snickers) it felt right, like when someone does something without knowing it and spills something or makes a mess...like the girl that chewed on her hair for years and years until one day she got a terrible stomachache and the doctors opened her up and found that she had a giant stomach-shaped hairball! Yea...that's a bit of an off the wall example I know but it just sprung in there (blushes) but yes, I HAVE noticed that the email alerts get screwy from time to time, don't worry I hold no grudges at all! _**Yami-Yugi-Girl**_ Thank you! (snickers) _**FYI IY is mine **_thank you! And yes, i do plan on writing more (grins) I have several chapters already written on this one in fact... _**Tiamath **_ah! it was you that asked! And thank you for mentioning about Souta, I had an epiphany with that too while writing it, I thought it wouldn't make sense for Souta to hate Inu too... but no, the two stories are happening at different times. Kagome's story IS in the past... _**toxiclollipop**_ thank you! It's been explored before...in fact on one of my favorite stories (which is now actually complete too!) they form a link too...but theirs is different from mine as I recall...it's like...(coughs and sighs sheepishly) gentler and simpler... I make everything more troublesome (evil grins) _**fanfiction1**_ yes, I thought that with how suspicious Kagome's grandfather is he'd be quick to point the blame. Also it's human nature to NEED an explanation, a thing to pin the blame on. Inuyasha fits the bill for Mrs. H and Gramps... but not Souta in my mind...I think Souta would stick by Inuyasha (even if it was silently...) _**Yami Chikara**_ hehe...yes, it IS sad but just keep in mind what Miroku said...(grins)

Thank you ALL! YAYS! I'm watching for 50 reviews now! (puppy eyes) A girl's gotta dream, eh? (sighs) well...on to your preview, eh?

_"He didn't say anything Inuyasha. He's just complaining about me petting him…" she grinned again, feebly, and didn't notice the way Inuyasha was staring at her—as well as Shippo Kilala, Miroku and Sango—for her sudden civil behavior with the hanyou. _

_After a moment Inuyasha blinked stupidly, his mouth still open in that big, silent, last-gasp-of-the-dying-fish-O-shape, and turned away. He only did this to cover the smirk that obscured his face for a moment as a decidedly un-grumpy thought entered his mind, **I'd like to sit in her lap and have her pet me…**_

**__**

Well that's it for me tonight...until next time! (winks) I actually had a fish that died with its mouth like that in a big silent, gasping screaming O. I almost laughed (as sadistic as that is) when I had to fish him out...am I scaring you yet? Morbid huh? (shrugs) dissect a few fetal pigs and you get that way...anyway, 'nuff said...till next time!


	6. Journeying

**Disclaimer:** I do NOT own Inuyasha or the lyrics to Blink 182's "I miss You" song...

**A/N:** I know I SHOULD be posting SWFM's epilogue but I must admit I'm not finished with it yet (ducks the rotten vegetables thrown at her) I know, I know...but I wanted to update this one b/c it has more finished chapters...I haven't had as much time to write the epilogue to SWFM yet...I will get to it, I promise...but for today I offer this, not as sad chapter, (it's angsty-tension instead of simple anger and bitterness...(grins)). This chapter Mrs. H and Sota aren't covered (I'm sorry!) but next chapter they are again...key? Hehe...told you her plot would come along...this chap starts off with Sango and Kagome chatting...then it progresses to the start of their journey to see the monk Saishi (in Japanese his name means, "clever man"...hehehe) who will enlighten us all on their situation and what it means...I hope that you guys will enjoy the tension...I loved writing it, which reminds me, maybe Inuyasha never thinks this way but I'd bet he does. In this story he's not only older (If Kagome's 17 then that makes Inu about 18 is it? You know for guys that's the peak of their sex drive, according to my Mom anyway, and she usually knows) but he's also male, and I think that (tell me if I'm wrong guys!) that most males are prone to having thoughts that are harmless enough but they don't really want them to be shared...and Kagome gets to hear those(snickers)...anyway, on with the story eh?

**

* * *

****Journeying**

_(Don't waste your time on me_

_You're already the voice inside my head…) _

* * *

The water was cold, _freezing._ Kagome almost regretted agreeing to come at all when she felt it surge around her knees. Unbidden she thought, _I'm going to have to bathe in these lakes **all** the time now that I'm stuck here…_ that almost brought tears to her eyes, again, but the schoolgirl fought them, forcing herself to accept her fate. 

She looked to Sango and saw that the demon slayer had already stripped her clothes off, and, without so much as a gasp or a shiver, she pushed off into the chilly spring water, sinking in all the way. Her dark brown hair flowed around her like a curtain. Kagome allowed her mind to wander over how beautiful Sango was, and how, secretly, Kagome was a tad jealous. It wasn't a wonder as to why the lecherous Miroku couldn't keep his hands off her!

The demon slayer reappeared above the water, still without any sign as to how cold the water _really_ was. Kagome was still fully clothed, her arms wrapped about her carefully, the goose bumps on her legs sticking up unashamedly. She started to shiver. _How can Sango stand it!_ She wondered, and as the demon slayer turned slightly, rising high enough in the water so that she was exposed from the waist up, Kagome realized that Sango certainly _felt_ the cold, but she didn't show it and didn't apparently care much about it. Sango's body was pale as snow, and Kagome could see the flicker of the muscles underneath, working to try and unconsciously heat her from the water's deathly breath of cold. When her eyes strayed to the other young woman's breasts she quickly averted her gaze, choosing instead to stare at her shivering thighs.

She chose that moment to blurt, "A-are y-you sure that M-miroku isn't w-watching…?"

Sango immediately blushed and lowered herself back into the water, allowing it to cover her chest to her collarbone. "It's always a risk." She answered quietly, forcing her voice to be calm. She looked the schoolgirl over, up and down, and pursed her lips, forcing her mind to think about her friend and not about peeping Mirokus or how freezing the water was. _I should've known better than to take Miroku's suggestion. Kagome has more sense than I do…_

"It's too cold for this, isn't it Kagome?" she asked, smiling broadly.

Kagome nodded, eagerly. "Y-yes…it is."

Sango stood up, her skin still deathly white from the cold, and quickly yanked a long cloth that would serve as a towel out, wrapping it carefully around her body. When she moved her hair out of the way Kagome caught a glimpse of the terrible scar in her back, the physical legacy of Sango's suffering. She looked away, biting her lip with sudden shame. _I've been crying because I can't go home when there's still hope. The monk might still get the well to work…and even if he doesn't,_ she hated herself for the tears this thought prompted, _at least I know my family is still **alive**, Miroku's are gone, Sango's were ripped from her while she was watching for heaven's sake! Shippo's too! And Inuyasha…_she forced thoughts of him away, though she couldn't stop the pity from lacing her mood, empathy and regret starting to brew deep within her. _What would it be like to know you're not really like either of your parents, as Inuyasha must feel everyday? To look your only living relative in the eye and know that although he looks so much like you he hates your guts? _At least Miroku's parents had been human just as he was and Sango's had been loving until the day they were ripped from her. Even Kohaku would undoubtedly love her if they were ever to find him and help him recover his memories. _I may never see my family again,_ she realized, _but at least they're alive, at least I know that somewhere, some **time** they love me…_

Sango had secured her towel about her before Kagome had finished thinking, and for a moment the demon slayer did nothing but stare at her friend in pity. _She's come a long way in the three years I've known her but…_she pursed her lips and almost blurted her concerns aloud before finally silencing everything that stirred within her, covering it with a shivery smile. "C'mon Kagome, let's lie in the sun to warm up, okay?" At least the schoolgirl was smart! She hadn't taken her clothes off so readily as Sango had. Sango wondered, with a rising blush, if maybe she _had_ been hoping that Miroku was out there in the forest watching…she looked up, instinctively searching, but heard, saw, and sensed nothing.

Kagome had caught the blush. "Who are you thinking about, Sango?" she asked, the tease clear in her voice, obvious in the twinkle her dark eyes were pregnant with.

The demon slayer looked away. "No one, Kagome, who were _you_ thinking about? Hmmm?" she tried to counter, but knew that although Kagome _had_ been thinking a few moments ago the girl hadn't been blushing, a sure sign that the thoughts were innocent.

To her surprise Kagome sighed and revealed exactly what she _had_ been thinking, "Sango," she gave the older girl a slightly sheepish look, "I just realized what a baby I am…"

Sango stopped. They'd reached the top of the small grassy hill overlooking the river. Wordlessly the girls settled into the tickly grass and laid so that they could look into the sky, watch the lazy white clouds float by. This was a tradition started by Kagome, one that Sango planned to share with her children someday—if she were ever so lucky to be blessed with them. The moment they'd settled into comfortable positions—Kagome in her school uniform still, her calves wet and shivering from exposure to the river, Sango colorless from her quick and now regretted dip in that same water and shrouded only in her towel—Sango asked, quietly, "Kagome, why do you think you're a baby? You don't look or act like one to me."

The schoolgirl sighed, heavily. "I just realized that I'm acting like one. Everyone else has lost some or all of their family…" she risked a quick glance at the demon slayer and saw nothing but absolute, emotionless calm there. "You especially." She whispered, and suddenly she was fighting the tears, though it was futile. They fell in fat droplets from her eyes onto her cheeks. "And I just realized how stupid I am for making such a big deal out of something that's already happened to you all!" she was on the verge of sobbing, and Sango bit her lips, unhappily as she rolled over to face Kagome carefully.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of Kagome." She whispered; reaching out to flick her friend's tears away, "You _need_ to cry about it, you _need_ to mourn."

"But my family isn't gone! They're still alive; I'm just not with them…" she choked on her tears, her eyes red and puffy with her emotions.

"Kagome," Sango shook her head grimly, "It's the same way with death. Whether or not they're alive anymore doesn't matter—_you_ can't seen them, so it's perfectly okay to cry. No one is ashamed of you, you have no reason to feel that way about yourself." Sango pulled the blubbering, whimpering schoolgirl into her arms and hugged her fiercely. She felt Kagome's warm tears dropping on her shoulder steadily for several moments, smelled the lingering perfumes of her time 500 years in the future, savoring them at the thought that she might never get to smell them on Kagome ever again. Eventually the warmth of the sun sunk into their bones, easing away their worries and sadness, warming the chill away from their souls and bodies alike. They separated and regarded one another thoughtfully.

Sango grinned suddenly and shook the schoolgirl's shoulder, coming to an important decision, "Kagome?"

"Yes?" her dark, somehow still melancholy eyes met the chocolate brown of the demon slayer's and waited patiently.

"Miroku and I have been talking…" she started carefully only to see Kagome cover her mouth with one hand, gasping behind it in shock loudly.

"Oh my gosh!" she giggled, "You've finally decided to have his child!"

Sango couldn't stop the blush that stole over her face, making it beam red as if on fire. "No, that's _not_ what I was going to say…"

"But that's coming soon—I can tell." She smirked and Sango wanted to wring her neck for being so keen. _As much as I'd love to chat about that monk I have to tell her about Inuyasha…_

"I'm being serious now, Kagome! Please!" she begged, and ignored the schoolgirl's large, dramatic roll of the eyes.

"Okay, Miss Serious!" she frowned, turning her nose up at the demon slayer, "I'm listening."

Sango didn't fall for it, though she couldn't restrain a quick snort at Kagome's antics, "Thank you, Kagome." She cleared her throat to allow for the proper amount of anticipation—a thing that Miroku had actually taught her—and then said, "Miroku and I have been watching you and Inuyasha lately…"

The schoolgirl's light smile vanished and was replaced by a scowl, "Stop Sango. I don't want to hear it." She started to sit up, pulling completely away, the grass shifted beneath her and Sango felt a twinge of fear run through her. _Damn you Miroku, you'd better not be wrong about these two!_

She reached out and grabbed Kagome's elbow, stopping her from standing, "_Please,_ Kagome, listen to me, I have to ask you something."

"If it's about _him,"_ they didn't need to elaborate who was being mentioned at the moment, "Then I don't want to hear it."

Sango hesitated, searching her friend's stare carefully…the dark eyes were hurt, sad, wounded—not angry or disgusted. Immediately she knew exactly how Kagome felt and sighed with familiar pain. She'd seen those same feelings reflected in her own eyes when she'd stared into mirrors or the reflective surface of water after she'd seen Miroku flirting with any random village girl. That was why she tightened her grip on her friend and pulled once, urging her to reclaim her spot in the grass. "Kagome, trust me, if what Miroku said is true, you _do_ want to hear it."

With a growl of something close to disgust, Kagome gave in, facing Sango with irritation and—was it excitement?—glimmering in her eyes. "Just hurry and tell me, then we can sit back and watch the clouds, kay?"

Sango nodded, "Yes…" she swallowed nervously, praying quickly that Miroku hadn't been wrong about their hanyou, "Miroku and I have noticed that you and Inuyasha don't get along too well anymore."

"Duh!" Kagome sulked.

The demon slayer ignored her, "Why do you think that is?"

"Because," Kagome hissed, looking beyond Sango and toward the trees behind her, "He's a jackass and he can't _get_ any because he loves that damn Kikyo and she's dead so…" her voice died abruptly as she seemed to register what she'd said and Sango stared at her, both fear and triumph battling inside her. Triumph that she'd judged Kagome's emotions rightly, and fear that Miroku was wrong about Inuyasha.

"We don't think he likes Kikyo." Sango whispered, watching Kagome carefully.

The schoolgirl didn't answer. Her eyes were hazy and foggy, swimming with memory. The sunlight was bright and cheerful on them and for a moment even Sango got lost in its gentle touch. She caught sight of a cloud that reminded her of Shippo and logged it away for further discussion later with the schoolgirl, once the tough stuff was covered.

She began again abruptly with a sigh, "Miroku talked with Inuyasha, Kagome," the schoolgirl's eyes locked with Sango's warm chocolate ones, "And Inuyasha says he loves _you_."

Immediately Kagome's face twisted with confusion, "That can't be true." She shot back instantly.

"But it's what Miroku got out of him." She neglected to mention that it had been at the Feudal era equivocal of a gunpoint.

"Well," Kagome looked at the clouds again, her face bitter, "Then why does he treat me so badly? Why can't he be nice? Why wouldn't he tell me the truth? Why does he call me a bitch every other sentence?" by the end of this list of questions her voice was a dry, mirthless, hopeless growl. She concluded with a depressed sigh, "He was lying. What a bastard."

"But do you still _want_ him to love you…?" Sango ventured the question quietly, hesitatingly.

Kagome met her gaze, and the pain in the other girl's eye was all the answer she really needed. The simple word that Kagome breathed with this look, however unneeded it was, made Sango shiver even in the warmth of the sunlight, _"Yes."_

She nodded once and looked to the sky just before Kagome spoke again, her voice barely a whisper, "I _need_ it Sango…"

Startled she looked back, blinking. "What?"

Kagome appeared to regret her last words; blinking rapidly she glanced at her friend and looked almost baffled, as if someone else had stolen her lips and mouth to speak the last sentence. She turned to lie on her back so Sango couldn't quite read her face as well. Then, through the uneasy silence she gave another shuddering whisper, closing her eyes as if trying to recall a dream, "Sango, I…" she breathed deeply once before trying again, "I think I'm going insane."

Sango sat up on one arm, making sure she was able to see the other's girl's face. "Why is that?" she prompted, laying one hand on Kagome's arm gently.

The other girl refused to meet her gaze. "I…" she pursed her lips, chewed them for a moment and then spat out, "I-think-I-hear-his-thoughts-in-my-head-but-I-must-just-be-insane-and-imagining-that-I-do-instead."

Shocked, Sango withdrew her hand, but stopped herself from covering her mouth, and managed just before Kagome looked up at her, seeking a response, to keep her mouth from gaping open in astonishment as well. _Miroku's right!_

"What is it Sango?" the schoolgirl asked, shivering as if the sunlight that was bouncing off her skin was something more akin to rain, cold and unwelcome. Her eyes were frightened, searching the demon slayer with stark alarm darkening her features. "What's wrong?"

_What can I tell her? **Should** I tell her? She probably won't like it…_Sango pushed herself off the grass and rose to her feet, clutching the dampened towel about her body. A spring breeze whipped past her, making the fabric stick and hug her curves, and the demon slayer suddenly felt fragile in spite of the muscles that rippled beneath her arms, in her shoulders. She looked back at Kagome through her messy, wind-blown locks, "C'mon, I need to get dressed!"

Appearing stunned, the schoolgirl leapt up to stand beside her, wordlessly, and then both young women walked back over the hills and dunes of grass, toward the rocks at the shore where Sango had left her clothing. Kagome held the towel up, protectively, shielding the demon slayer from both the possibility of prying male eyes and the breeze while she dressed. But although neither girl broached the silence that had descended between them, that didn't mean that there was nothing wrong between them. Kagome couldn't fight the lump that was growing in her throat like ice for long. Soon her eyes were rimmed with red. As she tied her green skirt about her waist, Sango noticed the other girl's face and a rush of guilt and panic pushed through her…_I have to tell her **something…**_

Slowly, as she strapped hiraikotsu to her back once more, the demon slayer stared at Kagome's face, seeking the right words. For her part the schoolgirl refused to meet the other girl's gaze. "Kagome?" Sango finished the knot that secured the boon boomerang to her and reached gently for the towel that the schoolgirl still held up. Even as their fingers brushed Kagome didn't meet her questing gaze, and Sango took the towel, folding it as she haltingly tried to speak to her stricken friend.

"What you said, Kagome…" she swallowed, "It sounds like something Miroku described to me…" she opened her mouth to say more, but there were no words. She cursed herself for the thousandth time that she hadn't learned more about the ways of higher youkai. "Truth is that you'll have to ask him, Kagome." She finished with a sad sigh, and, tentatively, she reached for Kagome's chin, turning it toward her. She saw the tears shining, as yet unshed, in Kagome's eyes and offered her the only comfort that she knew was possible to say truthfully, "At the very least it means that you're not insane."

The schoolgirl's gaze touched upon Sango's then and slowly she smiled, a few tears spilled onto her cheeks. "That's good to know…" she looked to the sky abruptly and let loose a long breath, "You said I should ask Miroku about it?"

"Yes," Sango breathed, turning her gaze to the sky as well. "You can do it sometime on our journey…"

Kagome's face turned back toward her again, confusion burning there like a fire fueled by gasoline, "Journey?"

"We're leaving to look for this monk named Saishi tonight." She turned back toward the village and the grassy hills, reaching for Kagome's hand as they did so. "The sooner the better. We'll get you home before you know it!" she smiled genuinely and Kagome felt the demon slayer's firm grip tighten on her own frail fingers. Though neither girl mentioned it there remained the terrible, simple knowledge that the monk's help was a far-fetched thing, unlikely to truly aid them in any way. But they both knew that they had to try…

* * *

"Damn it, Miroku!" Inuyasha growled, "When will those two get back here?" the hanyou paced restlessly outside Kaede's hut, ears folded backward, amber eyes flashing with annoyance. 

The monk smirked from his place tending the fire. "If it would calm your nerves, Inuyasha, perhaps it would be a good thing for you to check on them—from a safe distance in the cover of the brush of course."

"Feh! As if I'd stoop to your level!" he huffed, still pacing irritably back and forth, back and forth.

Miroku considered protesting that his behavior was more normal than Inuyasha's cruelty toward Kagome, but seeing how stiff the hanyou's stance was as he paced unceasingly, made the monk rethink that idea and hold his tongue. _Better to live to see tomorrow than be torn apart today, no matter how good the comeback was…_

As both the monk's violet eyes, and Shippo's green gaze trailed after the hanyou, as if watching a steady tennis match in slow motion for the next few seconds out of sheer boredom until Inuyasha whirled in the direction that the girls had taken earlier snarled to himself, "Finally!"

_Hardheaded to the last…_Miroku thought with an audible sigh.

At the top of a nearby hill Sango and Kagome appeared, chattering quietly, small smiles on their faces. But when they glanced toward the hut both appeared moderately surprised, obviously neither girl had been expecting to see Inuyasha there, waiting on them. Miroku had to suppress a grimace when he noted how immediately the hanyou's gaze locked menacingly with Kagome, while the schoolgirl, in turn, stiffened and refused to look at him in return.

Gleefully Shippo bounded away from Miroku, Kilala following close behind, eager to welcome the females of the troupe. Their swift and positive attention to the girls was far more appreciated than Inuyasha's huffing glares and poisonous silence. Miroku hated feeling the tension within the group, and wondered idly, how it had gotten so bad, and _why?_ Inuyasha and Kagome had always picked on each other but before one of them had always bent to the other and apologized…and as he stood, trying to smile past the hanyou's dirty, challenging glares, he realized that it was _Kagome_ who had changed. Inuyasha's quarreling hadn't obviously increased—but Kagome's willingness to _forgive _had. In the meadow Inuyasha had saved her from the well, usually that was enough to appease Kagome's inner hostility…_but not anymore…_

Blinking almost fearfully the monk wondered, _was I wrong about her?_

He could only pray that he hadn't been…

"It's about _damn_ time!" Inuyasha growled as Sango and Kagome shoved past him. Kagome's thin body was like a steel post she was so tense. Miroku didn't miss the undertone of camaraderie that existed between the two young women. As they slipped by the schoolgirl's arch-nemesis the demon slayer took hold of Kagome's arm, squeezing reassuringly. They smiled tightly—but with a trace of real warmth—at each other as they approached him. Inuyasha glared at them from behind, his face a strange mask of rather unpleasant emotions.

_This is going to be a **long** journey…_ the monk thought dejectedly.

* * *

For the first few days the group traveled steadily without complaint. Miroku and Sango enjoyed one another's company, chatting pleasantly. Kagome frequently joined them, keeping her spirits high with jokes and lighthearted banter. Shippo and Kilala stayed with the schoolgirl and the demon slayer too, after all, with the way that Inuyasha kept himself segregated from the others and bore a continuous scowl on his face for the first half a week of travel, who in their right mind would try to talk to him! 

But despite Inuyasha's sullenness it wasn't hard for the group to remain cheery. The sun was shining brightly, the temperature had warmed up deliciously, and the flowers had begun blooming, and alongside the road cherry blossoms fluttered in the breeze, their heavenly aroma teasing the senses…well, not everyone's. Springtime was always hard on the three-youkai members of the troupe of Shard-hunters. With their sensitive noses the pollen was a bit overwhelming at first, until they adjusted. Shippo sat on Kagome's should for almost an entire day in the first week of their journey and sniffled and sneezed. Kilala didn't show her suffering as much, but her stuffy nose could clearly be heard to wheeze with each breath she took.

And Inuyasha…well, some of his sullenness wasn't without reason. The hanyou's nose reacted violently with the first of the season's pollen. It began with the sniffles, which were so incessant that soon all of the Shard-hunters were cringing with each snorting breath the hanyou took. After that it seemed to progress straight into his head, where it clogged his sinuses just as effectively as a great concrete dam does a river. To cope with such an insult, Inuyasha took to breathing with his mouth open, which made him look _very_ strange. Kagome, Miroku and Sango each had the sense not to bother Inuyasha at all if they could during this time, and _especially_ not to point out the ridiculous appearance he had…but unfortunately, Shippo didn't.

Around the fire one night after they'd been on the road for about a week Shippo made his error. The kitsune, who was innocently sitting on Kagome's lap, purring as she stroked him, much like a cat, absently looked toward Inuyasha and announced, "You know, Inuyasha, you look really stupid like that—not that you don't look like an idiot all the time of course…" immediately Sango, Miroku, Kagome and Kilala all froze, knowing the tirade that would follow this unwise outburst.

Indeed, when Inuyasha heard the runt's voice from where he was sitting propped against a thick tree trunk just beyond the obvious circle of the group's little fire, his eyes shot open and locked with a nasty glare onto the kit. His mouth, even while he'd been at rest, had been open in a large, silent O shape. It really _did_ look ridiculous, but no one was going to point that our to the hanyou—all of them wanted to _live_long enoughto meet Saishi. Though it looked as though Shippo had a sudden death wish…

The amber eyes narrowed dangerously, "Wha wa zat, you liddle twerp?" he snarled through his stuffy nose. He finished with a miserable sniffle and an attempt at a snort, trying to clear it. His sinuses effectively shot him the finger and Inuyasha focused a wrathful glare on the kit in Kagome's lap instead.

"I said—" Shippo began again, sitting up in Kagome's lap only to have the schoolgirl clamp her hands over his little mouth and grin nervously. She had grown so accustomed to jumping in to spare the kit his beatings that it never occurred to her just _who_ she was about to converse with. She and Inuyasha hadn't been on speaking terms the entire journey, and her speaking to him now was an abrupt breeching of their past etiquette.

"He didn't say anything Inuyasha. He's just complaining about me petting him…" she grinned again, feebly, and didn't notice the way Inuyasha was staring at her—as well as Shippo Kilala, Miroku and Sango—for her sudden civil behavior with the hanyou.

After a moment Inuyasha blinked stupidly, his mouth still open in that big, silent, last-gasp-of-the-dying-fish-O-shape, and turned away. He only did this to cover the smirk that obscured his face for a moment as a decidedly un-grumpy thought entered his mind, _**I'd** like to sit in her lap and have her pet **me**…_

Across the fire Kagome's innocent grin died and she stared at the hanyou's turned back, stunned into making her own stupid dying fish face. Her mouth fell open in the silent O shape. _He did **not** just think about that…about **me** like **that!**_ But despite her denial she had heard it plainly, as clearly as if it'd been spoken out loud.

After a moment she realized that the others were staring at her—all but Inuyasha that is—and Miroku must've asked her a question. She snapped her jaw shut and looked toward the monk, blankly. "What?"

"I asked you if you're all right, Kagome…?" Miroku repeated, throwing Sango a quick glance that Kagome was unable to read.

Slowly, still eyeing the monk and the demon slayer suspiciously, she nodded. "I'm fine. It was nothing." She turned her attention to Shippo in her lap and began stroking his tail once more, but couldn't stop herself from remembering the few wondrous occasions when she'd gotten to touch Inuyasha's downy-soft white dog-ears. She wondered if that felt good to him, as her stroking of Shippo's puffy little kitsune tail obviously so pleased him. Even as she thought about it Shippo began the low purring sound again and snuggled into her warmth, dreaming of a creature that was somehow both the mother that he had been born knowing and the sweet-natured schoolgirl that acted as his protector now.

Across the fire Inuyasha drifted into a snorting, restless sleep, though he made no sign of it, with his back turned to the others rather hostilely. But inside his dreams he was more than a little jealous of the kitsune, but it was a feeling he was used to and so he easily survived.

Rain haunted most of their next week of travel. Clouds skidded across the sky, propelled by a sickly energetic wind. Sango, Miroku, Kagome and even Shippo each suffered earaches from the gusting of the wind past their ears. Inuyasha and Kilala, meanwhile, ignored such a threat from the elements by folding their ears flat against their heads. Even so, since most of the group was afflicted it became necessary to stop often, sometimes for an hour or more, to allow the terrible pains in the others' ears to fade.

It was Sango, who, in a stroke of slight brilliance, realized that by covering their ears the group could avoid the agonizing pain altogether. She wrapped her own dark purple scarf around her head, and although she flushed bright pink when the others stared at her strange headgear, her ears didn't ache in their next excursion. Unfortunately the others had no spare clothing…though both Kagome and Miroku looked toward Inuyasha accusingly. The hanyou's outer haori, although huge, would make a good shield against the wind. It could likely shelter all three of the remaining sufferers altogether, and thus the hanyou begrudgingly handed over the haori.

It was then that Kagome made the mistake of muttering, "Thank you!" sarcastically, and Inuyasha testily shot back a retort that he regretted a _lot_ later…

"Why in the seven hells were you locked on _my_ damn side of the well?"

The schoolgirl blasted him with a withering, wounded stare and the hanyou cringed away, knowing full well what was coming next…

"Sit you _jerk!"_

"Bitch!" he coughed from the ground a few seconds later, only to be punished again in the same way.

"SIT!" from on the ground the hanyou sputtered and coughed, trying to curse at her but failing through his mouthful of dirt. In this space Kagome huffed, gathering strength from her emotional wounds until she was able to scream _just_ the right words: "You selfish, self-absorbed…_ugh!_ Monster! Do you think I _want_ to be here with _you?_ As if! I'd rather be making out with Hojo or something!" with a high, feminine growl of frustration and annoyance she started to walk away from the group through the wind-swept clearing they'd taken up brief residence in, but was immediately followed by Sango and Kilala.

Alone with the still flattened and steaming hanyou, Miroku knelt down near Inuyasha with a heavy sigh. Shippo joined him, leaping on one shoulder and peering over at the small impact crater that Inuyasha had left behind. "You know Inuyasha," Shippo started off, and oddly enough Miroku let him get away with it, "It's really stupid that you fight with Kagome all the time. Can't you just be _nice_?"

"Piss off!" he grumbled, lips still pressed to the dirt.

Miroku sighed, "You know, Inuyasha, Shippo's actually quite right…"

"I said…" he pushed himself tentatively off the ground and snarled down at the youkai kit and the monk with the cursed right hand, "_Piss off." _He dusted off his hands and walked calmly to a nearby tree, ignoring the loud and angry voices rising between Sango and Kagome in favor of climbing a tree and waiting everything out.

"Kagome—stop it, you don't mean that!"

"But I _do, _Sango, I _do!"_ Kagome was snarling, throwing Inuyasha evil glares…and yet despite her words, and despite the looks, there was an underlying gleam in both the schoolgirl's and the hanyou's gazes. A silent longing, a growing tension that was filled with yearning and desire…Kagome wasn't immune to the thoughts that had been stirring for years now, thoughts of the hanyou's golden skin, _dreams_ of his strong arms not rescuing her but holding her close to him, little hopeless wishes that he might use his cruel lips and tongue to kiss her—not to _insult_ her…

And in his tree Inuyasha was stricken by the same thoughts, the same feelings, but with an angry "Feh!" he looked away from her and his other friends in the clearing and stared at the clouds as they skidded across the sky.

In the clearing below Kagome raised her voice, yelling purposefully in Inuyasha's direction, "I _hate_ him, I _hate_ him! I do, I do, I do, I _do!"_ her shook her fists at the silent and stubborn hanyou and then she simply collapsed to her knees, fighting the shivers that wracked her body…_she felt like she was going to vomit_! Her stomach twisted and tightened. Her breathing became ragged.

Nervously, worriedly, Sango sank to her knees beside her, taking her by the shoulder, "Kagome?" she murmured, gently, thinking that the girl was going to start sobbing.

"Stay back, Sango," Kagome warned, clutching her middle suddenly, "I don't feel so good…" Sango bit her lips and withdrew slightly, watching as Kagome rocked back and forth for a moment, waiting whatever had gripped her friend to pass…slowly it did and she sighed, relaxing again. _What was that about?_

Neither of them noticed that in the tree Inuyasha had tightened himself into a ball of discomfort as well, his amber eyes closed and his face a silent scowl. _(What was that about?)_ Blinking he looked back down toward the clearing and saw that Kagome was also not feeling well…a chill raced through him, and the schoolgirl's scent and overwhelming presence attacked his strange, hardly understood inner senses. His ears twittered with a combination of fear and panic. _No! No…not the link again!_ He'd been trying to hard to block it but apparently not hard enough…_Damn it! Damn her!_

But when he turned his amber orbs that way it was only just in time to see Sango helping the other girl to her feet…and he caught sight of her long, milky white legs. The delicious curve of her thighs reaching up to join her body, the dip of her waist that was just _designed_ for his hands to wrap around…he squeezed his eyes shut frantically, _No!_

Time for a change of scenery… 

He leapt down from the tree and barked out sharply, "C'mon, let's _move."_ He made sure that his glare lingered only briefly on Kagome—though what he _did_ give her was intense and smoldering. He hated the way her thick, raven black hair looked so teasingly soft. He wanted to comb it with his fingers, run his claws through it—_no, stop thinking like that!_ He started to walk our of the clearing, heading back to the road, only to notice that the others were still huddled confusedly about Kagome…

"Hurry the hell up!" he snarled. "Let's get _moving!"_ slowly the group of Shard-hunters resumed the trek, grumbling amongst themselves for a time but eventually calm and peaceable, just as Inuyasha had planned they would be—and best of all, his mind was once more quiet…

* * *

Endnote: (pouts) I didn't get 50 reviews...but 44 is still a very pleasant number...(grins) And I'm watching for 50 still...yes indeed... 

THANK YOU TO ALL REVIEWER! _**SerenaClearwater**_ (he kicked her out b/c he wanted to talk to Kagome alone, hehe, I'm glad you liked the name that was recorded...we don't have a name for him (or any of the other Feudal era characters) and what are the chances that a demon has a last name anyway? Even a half one like Inu? So I thought he'd be likely to name himself after something that mattered to him--like his sword. (grins)) _**kachiqua **_hehe...like my innuendo? (snickers) and WELCOME! I haven't seen you before now, have I? _**freelke**_ just as you tell me I never disappoin I'm late...(whimpers) I'm sorry! _**Yami-Yugi-Girl, toxiclollipop**_ hehe...Yes, true story, i found one of my gold barbs (colored shiny gold/amber honestly, pretty fish and they're so full of personality...(giggles at the cutness of her fishies)) dead underneath a rock (I think he was dared by his other buddies to swim underneath it and got stuck and died) with his mouth wide open in a big O...never seen another one die like that...and I just snickered when I found it like that, even though that's morbid it was just too funny...((grimaces) gosh that sounds bad!) _**Yami Chikara**_ there will be more on the link...(nods)...and is Inu acting any better yet? (smirks...) _**Tiamath**_ there maybe more...I'm not sure we're thinking in the same way...I'll have to see where my muse (and the reviewers!) take me...I could surprise you everywhere... _**inuyasha'sbabe07**_ I'm working on it, gotta tease you first though (grins) _**ILOVEInuyasha07**_ don't know if you'll get this but THANK YOU for reading and reviewing my first story! (bows) _**Crolynx**_ well! longer huh? I've actually had ppl complain (not on this one but a different one) about the length being too long...I've kept your review new in my inbox to make sure I can get to the author you suggested when I have time...thank you! _**fanfiction1 **_LOL, Than you, whenyou said "happy authoress" and that makes me think of something else, like an animal or workers in an assembly line..."happy workers make happy products" (snickers) I don't know why but it makes me laugh! _**Okazin**_ it's perfectly okay! Good hearing from you! _**Kitsume**_ hey, don't know if you'll find this but thanks for reading "Hanyou" and reviewing! YAYS! Maybe that story might yet reach 400 reviews even though I'm not writing it anymore (grins)

Preview time! This shall be the ULTIMATE teaser preview...hehehe, I expect most of you to scream...Here it goes:

_**When she'd reached it and made just enough space for her hand and fingers to slip through, the girl tickled his skin with her short nails, first up on his chest, and then she diverted her route and headed below the waist… **_

_**That forced a gasp from the hanyou's lips and, with the amber eyes partly closed, heavy with desire and longing, he moaned the girl's name, "Kagome…"**_

Yep...that's all I got to say (grins proudly) I must go now...till next time!


	7. Hopes

**Disclaimer:** Nope...

**A/N:** Okay, I couldn't leave you without this chapter at least, I know the preview was too much, too much of a bait. It would be cruel of me to let the story go on hiatus when I already had the chapter ready to go...I'm not going to proof read becuase it's late and I'm out of time (and I have a nasty sniffling half-cold thing going on and there's school tomorrow) but I will reconsider the hiatus depending on your opinions and reviews...and if I can find my own spirit for writing this one again...see I take reviews seriously, and I had a semi-flamer that upset me (not angry, becuase the reader had a valid opinion and critique concerning Kagome's character...) but under all my recent stress and such (prom, projects all week, friend trouble, boy trouble, family trouble, almost everything that could happen to me did...) I need a spark, a spirit, an energy to be able to give you guys a good story...without it I'm just not going to write worth beans...so I'm not mad at that reviewer, he/she has a definite point--I've made Kagome a bit rough in this fic, aged her and jaded her a little, and I might well be wrong...I apologize for that...but I kinda got the wind knocked outta me...sorry guys...well, here's this chapter at any rate, I hope it pleases...Beginning is Mrs. H again with Souta, talking about the records they found...later it's Inu and the gang in the rain...

**Note: **the site is like mad b/c writers "copy and paste" lyrics (though I didn't "copy and paste" anything, and I tried to quote whoever it came from when I did do it...) so I took those out...sorry again guys...(and gals(winks)).

**

* * *

****Hopes **

It was well past noon when Souta and I sat down together under the sacred tree's shade and wiped the sweat from our foreheads, preparing to compare what we'd found. As I'd expected, Souta had inherited Gramps's ability of instinct as far as where things were hidden in the storage houses. He had several record books and maps and even pictures scattered about the bench while I had found only three suspicious record books, containing mostly births and marriages. I let Souta tear through my findings first, and he was thorough indeed.

I watched as he flipped through the first book, his body tense, his lips pursed tightly. The dusty pages crinkled and spouted a fine mist that tickled my nose. I tried to cover the frown that had formed on my face because of that dust and the itch in my nose. It was right after I sneezed for the second time that Souta stopped flipping through the pages and looked up at me, his eyes gleaming with excitement, "Aha!" he announced.

"What is it?" I leaned in closer, trying to read the smeared names on the pages. The top read _Births_ clearly, and the dates were from 1550-1560 AD. I took note of that date carefully as Souta pointed to one row on the page and I read it aloud, "Family Tetsuseiga."

"Yes, unless there's more than one family bearing that name in that time period, this has to be the Higurashi woman and her husband." Souta nodded solemnly as it, and I followed his finger carefully as it slipped to where the child was mentioned. "A girl. A daughter." Souta whispered beside me. He was too stunned to notice the strange thing about the record…so I pointed it out to him.

I ran one finger up and down the columns of listed babies. "Notice anything strange Souta?" I asked.

It didn't take him more than a second, and his eyes were bright with something that I couldn't read, couldn't understand, "All of the other babies on this page are _boys_."

"Yes." We stared at each other, wondering. Five hundred years ago daughters weren't worth mentioning in such records. A family wouldn't have recorded a girl's birth. It wouldn't have been worth the time in their minds. Looking to the other pages I saw only one or two other families who listed baby girls at all…_yes, the Tetsuseiga couple were different indeed_. The only way that they would've mentioned the baby I would imagine, is if she was their _only_ child. We would have to do further research to be sure but so far even I couldn't dismiss the unusual nature of these records.

"Mom," Souta whispered, looking me carefully in the eye. His finger tapped the book; _"This is Kagome…"_

I frowned, trying to ignore the shivering excitement that was creeping through me, "No, we don't know that, there are no first names…"

"Mom!" he lifted the book again, his eyes wide, gleaming, "Who the hell else would bother to record a girl! Who else, besides a woman from modern day Japan that wanted you and me to know about her through the shrine!"

I hadn't ever thought of it that way…but there was still the chance that this was wrong.

"Souta, what if that girl was that couple's only child? What if she were a miracle to them? What if they were both aging and barren and suddenly that child was born to them. Don't you think that they would've cared enough about that to record it?"

Frowning Souta put the book back down. "Yes…" without another word he flipped through the rest of the pages in that book, until he stopped once again, squinting in what I recognized as suspicion. "Mom…" he breathed, and pulled me closer, letting me follow his finger again. "There they are again…"

Sure enough I saw the name, _Tetsuseiga_, and I scanned across and saw that this time the birth that was recorded was a boy, and he had a name, a strange one—Kiba. But even as I felt the fluttering of real excitement in me, breath-stealing, stomach-churning enthusiasm, I caught sight of the date and my heart sank.

"Souta…" I spoke through a heavy sigh and pointed him toward the numbers at the top of the page. "There must be two Tetsuseiga families." And if that was true than it was quite probable that neither family had contained Inuyasha and Kagome among them…we were clutching at straws, we were making up hope where there wasn't any at all.

I could feel as well as see Souta's falling heart. My son's shoulders sagged, his face contorted and twisted. I could see that he didn't want to give in to reason—but it was so clearly staring him in the face…

"How could it…" he shook his head, thinking hard, lips pursed, "From 1550 something to 1570 something?" he looked at me, desperate, hope still lingering in his eyes and voice, "It could happen, it's not quite twenty years in between the dates I'll bet. Kagome was young…"

I shook my head, "But without children in between those dates?" I needed to get through to him, "They didn't exactly have Trojans or the Pill then, Souta honey…look at one of the other families and compare them—how long between their babies?"

With one look at the pages and we both knew the truth—most families were having one baby every three or four years probably. The names repeated steadily all the time. We'd come up on a dead end.

Frustrated, Souta slammed the book shut and grabbed the next one in line. "All right, we'll search for Kiba Tetsuseiga's line then…" he flipped through a book of marriage records this time, seeking the name Tetsuseiga still. The dates flew by—1570, 80, 90, 1600—and then we saw a record. Someone from the Tetsuseiga family between 1600 and 1610 AD married someone—a _man_. This was the unnamed daughter that Souta and I had run across earlier. The one that had been recorded among so many other boys. But there was something wrong with her marrying in those times—she would've been close to 50 years old by then!

Souta and I stared at the record, confused. Finally Souta closed the book and tossed it away, taking his frustration out on the lifeless object. He was frowning when he muttered, "You're right, there must've been more than one Tetsuseiga family."

"What was it that you found, Souta?" I asked, trying to cheer him up.

It didn't seem to work, but Souta moved to scoop up his trinkets anyway. The first thing he lifted for me to see was an old book whose cover read: _Old Family Myths and Legends._

"Grandfather Asenka did this book too, when he was older, I think." Souta opened it and immediately let me see the table of contents—and I gasped at it. Early on in its chapters was a story entitled: _The Myth of the Shikon Jewel and Family Tetsuseiga._

"Souta!" I stared at him, dumbstruck, but he didn't seem to be as convinced as I was.

Shaking his head he closed the book, "Mom, you know that families make stuff up all the time—and as those records prove there must've been more people named Tetsuseiga than we thought. This myth, even though it uses the name Shikon Jewel, means nothing. I took it out on a whim, and now the records have proven it—and everything else I've found—dead wrong." He scowled and threw it down in the dirt at our feet with a heavy, saddened sigh. "I'm going inside Mom. I drove all night—I need to sleep the afternoon away…"

I felt a pang of remorse and regret rush through me. "Souta, it could be a mistake, there might be something we don't know…it's possible—"

Souta turned away from me, rubbing his temples. "Mom, it's okay, you don't have to humor me." he sighed, "I was always looking for some way to claim that Kagome wasn't locked over there and miserable…I'm going to go to sleep now."

But before he had fully turned away I'd caught the shine in his eyes—tears. He was shedding them for his big sister, who had been so unfairly taken from him all those years ago. Some siblings fight and argue and never truly love each other. Perhaps Souta and Kagome would've been that type if Fate hadn't taken their grandmother and father away…but it had, and it seemed to me that the result was clear: they'd loved each other all the more because they understood the loss of loved ones with a sickening, bitter reality. Now my son wanted nothing but happiness for Kagome…the years I'd spent with Gramps badmouthing Inuyasha had worn on Souta more than I'd realized…he was jaded and disillusioned before his time…

I felt the lump in my throat like a bowling ball then but there was nothing I could do as he walked away from me. I turned my gaze on the pile of junk that Souta had gathered, and, absently, trying to rid myself of the pain I was feeling inside, I reached for one of the old, bent and torn black and white pictures, taken of a well-to-do family probably at about 1920 or so. There were four formally posed people in it of mixed ages, two men and two women, all of them wearing what probably were extraordinarily gorgeous kimono. The bottom of the picture read simply: _Family Tetsuseiga_.

I was about to set it back down—clearly not seeing any of my own features in the family's faces—when I noticed that the eldest man's hair was bright white…or at least it appeared that way in the black and white snapshot. That in itself isn't unusual. White hair happens in the elderly of course. The progression might go from the shining rave black that my son possessed to the salt and pepper graying that I was getting, to eventually a white as lightening shade, such as the Tetsuseiga man had. But what caught my eye about the picture was that he wasn't that old. Either he had lived a hard life that had aged him prematurely, or he was _predisposed _to whitening hair…

Shocked I searched further. The elderly woman's eyes appeared extremely light—as if they were an eerie blue, which was also unusual. The younger two, a man and a woman who appeared to be siblings, both looked completely normal until I saw that the woman's slender fingers as she held up a small folding fan at chest level looked as if she had long fingernails…longer than usual. And the younger man's ears—was it just me or were they pointed?

My heart was racing at the thought._ Demon traits? Could they stay inside the family that long?_ My eyes flew from the picture to where Souta had abandoned the myths and legends book. Cautiously, as if it might bite me, I lifted the book and opened it. The contents page peered up at me, and once more the Tetsuseiga's family myth was there—glaringly obvious in the description was the word _Shikon._

After a final second of hesitation I let my fingers slip under the books pages, I opened it to the right pages, and began to read.

* * *

The rain came without warning. As the winds lightened from the day before the group made good time at first, until the temperature began to rise nicely in the afternoon and the clouds built up from out of nowhere. As the dark thunderheads started to look ominous Inuyasha easily felt the prickling of all the small hairs on his arms and neck, a youkai's secret weather barometer whispering that he needed to move his little group to a place of safety and shelter. Although the sensation bothered him, as it always did, he ignored it, hating the idea of stopping—it would leave him without a distraction again, and he _knew_ he'd be thinking about Kagome. 

Despite all of his efforts the hanyou knew quite well that the link he had with the girl was still strong as ever.

As if to mock his own thoughts Kagome suddenly cleared her throat from behind him and asked, timidly, "Shouldn't we stop…?" And Inuyasha knew without a doubt that she had sensed his thoughts, his instincts that demanded that they stop. And she was second guessing his judgment…the thought grew in his mind, fed by frustration at the strange link's power over the both of them—and _his_ seeming lack of that same power to control it.

The hanyou whirled on her, snarling, "_I'll _decide when we stop, bitch!"

The schoolgirl was walking close beside Sango and Miroku; Shippo was on her shoulder, cringing at Inuyasha's hard tone. Kagome's face was sour as she faced the hanyou, her arms crossed over her chest—and Inuyasha couldn't stop his own accursed eyes from glancing at the movement and thinking of the breasts that were hidden just underneath the fabric of her thin school uniform…and to his horror the girl's scowl suddenly changed, becoming one of shock.

_Oh shit—she **heard** me think that!_

But Kagome didn't respond to his thoughts, and silently Inuyasha worshipped her for it, glad that somehow she either respected him or just thought she was insane and not _really_ hearing his thoughts in her head, "Don't call me a bitch you _jerk!"_

"Can't you two cut it out?" Shippo grumbled, rolling his green eyes from the safety of Kagome's shoulder.

"You shut your face!" the hanyou retorted, pointing one claw at the kitsune threateningly. Shippo squeaked and tried to snuggle closer to Kagome, his whimpering immediately elicited her assistance…

"Inuyasha—_you_ shut _your_ face! It's time for us to stop and all you can do is try to boss us around and call me a bitch! And then you pick on Shippo when he's _right!"_

"No one asked you, bitch!" It was lame, but it was the best that he could do, especially when, speaking of the devil, he could feel a few thick, cold, fat and wet raindrops pelting him from the sky. One struck his ear and he flicked it, showering Kagome and Shippo with the droplets several feet away.

"That's it!" Kagome threw up her hands, her eyes burned with irritation and anger, "I'm going to find a tree to hide under and I'd bet you anything that everyone will go with me, Inuyasha, because they'd rather not stay out and get wet like you!"

The kit on her shoulder had grown bold again, "Kagome's right, Inuyasha, you've been acting even worse than usual lately—you know when _I_ acted up my Mommy used to make me take a nap. How about you—"

Inuyasha's generally O shaped mouth snapped into a growl, though it had a heavy nasally sound through his clogged sinuses, "Finish that sentence, runt, and I'll chew your tail off."

"No you won't! I'd say _it_ first, you stupid…" she stopped and abruptly paled as Inuyasha closed the gap between them to tower over her threateningly. Shippo, terrified that his time had come, leapt from her shoulder with a screech for help from the others. But Inuyasha didn't follow the kit, he remained where he was, amber orbs locked onto Kagome's dark brown ones.

"If you sit me, Kagome, then I'll make sure _you_ go down _with_ me…" he whispered hoarsely down into her face, his ears backward with irritation, his face filled with silent threat, but his thoughts were far from those things, instead they were scrambled and confused, like the salt ions dissolved into water…and through the link Kagome's thoughts filtered to him, full of tension.

_(Oh no—not this again…if I sit him he'll just tell me how disgusting I am and announce to everyone that I'm "in heat." Stupid jerk…)_

With a short blink Inuyasha realized that she was _right_. _What the hell was I thinking when I blurted that out?_ Before he could stop it Inuyasha found himself blushing when he remembered her scent, the feel of her lips against his own, the schoolgirl's _delicious_ taste…he noticed that Kagome had backed away from him a step, her face a mask of confusion and bitterness.

"Whatever Inuyasha…you win—you can be a _jerk_, no one's going to stop you, but everyone knows the _last_ thing I want is for you to be smashed on top of me…" she scowled with disgust to emphasize her emotions, and Inuyasha restrained a growl and the instinct to shout _Liar!_ He could feel the truth through the link…

The schoolgirl and the hanyou continued their stare down for several more seconds as around them little popping noises came as big and fat raindrops came crashing out of the heavens. Miroku and Sango, with Kilala on one shoulder, Shippo on the other, looked to the sky and tried to cover their heads.

"I don't know about you, Sango dear, but I don't want to wait for those two to finish their little lover's quarrel before we find shelter!" Miroku took hold of Sango's arm gently and started to guide her off the road toward a large maple tree that would serve as a nice umbrella. The smaller youkai abandoned their now wet and very mobile positions and rushed out of the road and into the trees.

Out in the road Inuyasha and Kagome both noticed their friends leave them, avoiding the rain that was starting to pour thickly, and thoroughly soaking, from the sky. They turned back to one another and briefly hesitated, their tensions still present, still thinly palpable…and then Kagome thrust her nose up at the hanyou with a little, "Hmph!" and turned her back to him. "At least _we_ have enough sense to get out of the rain!" she shot back at him.

Inuyasha bristled and snarled under his breath as he watched her go, fuming. _Damn her! Damn me!_ He reached out and touched his clothing, his hands returning cold and slick with moisture. "Damn this rain!" he cursed quietly to himself, grumbling, and began shaking much like a dog. When he looked up, his ears still flicking as the droplets from heaven teased them, he saw that _all_ of them were staring at him—waiting for him to give into logic…and _Kagome_ was smirking…

"Feh!" he snorted and turned his back on them, retreating to a smaller tree where he huddled, sitting Indian style, hiding his hands and feet from the moisture of the storm. Thunder rumbled above them, flickered in the dark clouds, a wind blustered through the trees and mortals, youkai, and hanyou all alike shivered. Inuyasha settled so that the others couldn't see him with the tree he'd chosen as an umbrella between him and their prying gazes. As the storm continued he grew bored and decided to sleep it out—the stress of trying to block the link with the schoolgirl was beginning to weigh on him…the stomachache came and went, rippling through his guts like a parasite. He hated that he _knew_ by her scent, which easily reached him through the wind without the aid of the link, that Kagome suffered a stomachache as well, though hers was only a shadow of his own…after a time he drifted off, the pain and his tiresome tension strained thoughts ceasing.

* * *

Kagome stroked Shippo while he slept, twitching reflexively. Sango and Miroku, some feet away, were chatting quietly…and sometimes, she knew, it was about her and Inuyasha. She caught Sango's worried glances and Miroku's mischievous ones from time to time and tried to look unconcerned. Perhaps, if they thought she wasn't paying attention, they'd raise their voices just enough that she _could_ hear them…but neither let up their guard and she only heard their innocent banter, as well as they louder and not-so-innocent flirtations. 

"Oh my Sango! But you know I would never be so bold as to suggest something as terrible as _that!"_ Miroku exclaimed, feigning his tone of self-righteous indignation. Sango, of course, never fell for it even for a second.

"Yes, yes—and Naraku is dating Sesshomaru…"

"You doubt me, love?" Miroku's soft voice went on, this time aiming for a wounded tone, trying to get Sango to pity him—or was he just playing with her? He couldn't possibly think that this flirt would work out any better than the others…

"I doubt only your intentions, Houshi-sama, not your abilities to fight beside us or your loyalties to us…" Sango was quiet and honest now, taking Kagome by surprise. She stopped stroking the kitsune for several seconds to listen completely to their conversation. She could see Sango's face was open and genuine through the dim light. She and the monk were sitting only a short distance away, Miroku was inclined against the maple tree's thick trunk while Sango was sitting opposite him, Kilala perched in her lap, sleeping and purring peacefully.

"No, Sango, I am talking about you and I!" Kagome nearly choked as she saw Miroku reach forward and grab Sango's hands from her lap, moving closer to her and clasping them tightly.

The demon slayer's gaze flew to Kagome and her face burned a brilliant crimson. "Uh…"

Kagome was about to interject and join the teasing when a small pain that had been building behind her eyes suddenly seemed to explode and she sat up, gasping in shock. Both hands rose to her temples and she dug at the skin around her skull, frantically…_my pack! This has got to be a migraine…Tylenol maybe or Advil or…Excedrin? Did I bring that?_ She opened her eyes and started to move toward her bag, whimpering to herself in pain.

Behind her Shippo shot awake like a bullet and looked around, green eyes panicked. "What's going on?"

Miroku and Sango stopped their flirting and looked back at the kit, expressions baffled. They spotted Kagome digging through her bag desperately, mumbling incoherently. They glanced at each other worriedly and then, agreeing silently, they rose to go investigate her distress…

Kagome's fingers closed over the rattling bottle of Tylenol and she ignored the thought that if she used them up unwisely she'd _never_ get another bottle with the well no longer working…and popped the childproof lock off. Two pills came out and she thrust them into her mouth and reached for her water bottle without hesitation. As she unscrewed the cap and pressed it to her lips a knowledge floated to her, though she didn't understand where it'd come from—it was like smelling something or tasting something—she just knew: _Inuyasha is dreaming in his sleep…_

The water poured over her tongue and into her mouth, washing the precious painkillers down her throat and into her stomach. When she'd gulped once, twice, a third time, she stopped, not wanting to have to walk out in the rain to find a place to pee if she drank too much…she breathed raggedly and realized with a jolt that Sango was touching her shoulder, shaking her, trying to speak to her. "Kagome? Are you okay? Can you hear me? What's wrong, what did you just swallow?"

With a deep breath, squinting through the pain in her head, Kagome looked over at her friend and let loose a shaky breath she hadn't really known she was holding. She reached out and grabbed Sango's hand with her own where it was lying on her shoulder, silent support and love. "I…have a migraine…" she answered, shakily.

"Migraine?" Miroku asked, appearing perplexed, "Do you need someone to rub it out of you?" none of them missed the lecherous implications of the question and Sango quickly withdrew from Kagome to slug the perverted monk.

"Hentai! Her head hurts—leave her body alone!"

"Oh but my Sango, you know all too well that the slightest little touch of my hands makes even the worst problems disappear!" he dripped charm like sugar, and all of the others rolled their eyes at him.

"Miroku—the _only_ way your hands fix anything is when your wind tunnel is open…_then_ and only then do things _disappear._" Sango shot back, her scowl at him became half a smirk when the monk's violet eyes looked wounded and hurt at her insult.

"Sango, you can't mean such a thing!" he gasped at her, moving to come closer to her and plead his case when Shippo bounded past the both of them to reach out to the schoolgirl, who had doubled over abruptly while they were fighting.

"Kagome!" he squealed, worriedly, trying to pull her out of whatever mysterious internal force had gripped her. The other moved forward as well, surrounding the suddenly still and stiff schoolgirl. Kagome didn't hear or sense any of them—behind her closed lids the pain had ceased and was instead replaced by a sort of movie that played on her closed lids as if they were screens…it was as if she were dreaming while awake, she had no control over what she saw and no way to stop it, she could only wait it through…

_He looked up, hearing and scenting her approach. The white ears atop his head twitched nervously but he remained silent, despite the fact that he knew she was there. She appeared, dressed in a very short, very thin white kimono…and it was raining. The water was soaking straight through the material, toward her skin. Her dark black hair was soon soaked, flattened over her shoulders and her head, her round human ears appeared like slices of seductive flesh through the slits of a sexy shirt, white on black. She was pale and shivering, the dark eyes were huge and pained._

_Still he said nothing, merely waited for her, apparently he was uncertain, only his ears moved to show he was more than a statue. _

_She spoke, her voice shaky, barely more than a whisper, "Inuyasha…hold me…"_

_He blinked for a moment, but it was clear that in his eyes the amber orbs burned brightly, he was seduced by the proposition already. After a moment he pushed away from the tree that he'd been leaning on and stepped out of its protective umbrella and into the cold, chilled rain. _

_The moment he was close enough for her to do it the girl threw her arms around his neck, her legs circled around his middle. She buried her face into his neck, in the place where it met his shoulder, shivering fiercely. Inuyasha turned and ducked back under the protective shadow of the tree's canopy and started back for the trunk—but didn't quite make it before the girl in his arms shifted slightly and started kissing his lips. It was gentle at first but then abruptly picked up pace. _

_Unable to kiss her well while standing the hanyou dropped her down to her feet and the girl immediately rammed herself into him, knocking him off balance. They tumbled for a small second; limbs intertwined, until they stopped just inside the protection of the tree, the girl perched triumphantly atop Inuyasha. Her hair, which was soaked all the way through, dribbled steadily onto the hanyou's chest and face. The amber eyes stared up at her with a mixture of surprise and excitement. _

_The girl was wearing **nothing** beneath her nearly translucent white kimono…_

_She leaned down and attacked his neck with her lips, kissing and teasing the skin. For a moment Inuyasha looked stunned by her ministrations, but that faded swiftly as desire blossomed inside him, starting slow and fragile but growing quickly into a blazing, uncontrollable flame. The hanyou used one clawed hand to turn her face, her lips, toward his own and took her eagerly, ready to devour her alive with his enthusiasm, his growing need. The girl didn't resist in the slightest, she snaked her hands over his chest, reached to his waist and tried to work her fingers the sash that kept his haori closed._

_When she'd reached it and made just enough space for her hand and fingers to slip through, the girl tickled his skin with her short nails, first up on his chest, and then she diverted her route and headed below the waist…_

_**That** forced a gasp from the hanyou's lips and, with the amber eyes partly closed, heavy with desire and longing, he moaned the girl's name, "Kagome…"_

Kagome opened her eyes, and found herself breathing hard, surrounded by Miroku, Sango, Kilala, and Shippo, all of them clamoring to get closer to her, to help her if they could…but as much as part of her hated such knowledge, the young woman knew that she, in fact, perfectly fine…well—besides the terrible reddening blush that was covering her face as she looked from one worried gaze to another.

"Are you okay, Kagome? Kagome?" it was Shippo. She fixed her gaze on the kit and smiled gently, reaching out one still shaky hand to stroke him. The kit immediately relaxed, as all of her friends did in fact. She sensed all of them releasing long-held breaths.

"Kagome, what happened?" Sango asked, catching her friend's attention. Kagome looked from Sango's worry to Miroku's curiosity—the letch had caught her blush, she realized, and was likely already making some sort of strange calculation in his perverted thoughts. What could she tell them? The migraine got worse? Had Sango seen the blush? She looked to the demon slayer again, searching her friend's face but there was nothing-definite one way or another; there was only worry.

"I…" she sighed and realized, looking at Shippo's warm, green gaze, that if she lied she'd feel guilty about it for keeping secrets—yet at once how could she share _that_ with them! She hadn't the foggiest idea where it had come from…and _then_ it hit her…_Inuyasha is dreaming in his sleep…_ she blinked, stunned into muteness by her silent wonderings. _Could I have been experiencing Inuyasha's dreams! No! There's just no way! He wouldn't be thinking of **me** like that! It would've been Kikyo for sure! But then again dreams can be very strange…_yet despite such assurances to herself, Kagome couldn't stop from remembering the dream's images and shuddering—but not with disgust…

The others were still staring at her, confusedly. It was Shippo again that brought her out of it when he whispered her name and tapped worriedly on her thigh. "Kagome?"

She turned her gaze his way and laughed nervously, realizing how easily she had drifted away into her thoughts. "I'm just tired guys, it's nothing…I need to sleep…" _yes, sleep and hope that I don't have a similar dream of my own…_

Miroku nodded above her, "As you wish, Kagome." He inclined his body to her slowly and turned to leave, almost solemnly.

Kilala mewed and bounded to Sango's lap. The demon slayer stared down at the tiny fire-cat with her lips pursed in thought. _Miroku is probably leaving me to talk with her in privacy…_she looked to Kagome and saw that her friend had once again closed her eyes, and seemed to have stilled all movement, concentrating, as if summoning up something from deep within her…tentatively she reached out and laid her hand on the other girl's shoulder again. "Kagome?"

The schoolgirl's head snapped up, and her face colored livid red all over again. "Sango! I'm sorry, I'm really tired and _so_ out of it…"

"I'll say!" Shippo gave a playful chuckle and settled into her lap, curling up like a dog or a cat. "I'll keep you warm, Kagome…" he snuggled into the flesh and muscle of her thighs. Casually Kagome stroked him, smiling down at him fondly.

Sango sighed, deciding that the girl really _was_ going to be all right. "Kagome, are you _sure _everything's okay…?" she offered a last chance to the schoolgirl, her chocolate brown eyes filled with concern.

Slowly Kagome nodded, but there was a slight hesitation in her gaze and after a moment Sango started to stand and withdraw from her to where Miroku was sitting some feet away, his golden staff at the ready as he stared out into the road in the distance. But just as Sango was leaving Kagome reached up and snatched the demon slayer's hand, pulling her closer to whisper a question, "What else do you and Miroku know about the link thing that you said you think I have…"

In her lap Shippo stirred, one green eye popped open, "Link thing?" he sat up, moving closer to stare at her in something akin to awe, "_You_ have a _link?_"

Kagome and Sango exchanged brief glances with one another and then the schoolgirl looked back down at the kit, unable to keep the blush from her face, "I…um, Shippo I'm afraid I don't really know anything about it…"

"Links happen in demon families!" the kitsune squirmed eagerly, "My Mommy and Daddy had one!"

"They did now?" Sango humored the kit, taking a little pressure off the dazed Kagome. "I'd like to hear more about this."

"Yes!" Kagome suddenly exclaimed, "How are they formed?"

Shippo peered up at them, wide and innocent green eyes puzzled, "How should I know? I was young, and I didn't have the right type of family to even _think_ about having a link like that…"

Both Sango and Kagome blinked in confusion, "But you just said—" the demon slayer started, only to stop as Shippo interjected and explained himself.

"I mean a mate—I didn't have a _mate._" He nodded, as if he were suddenly an authority on the subject, "I'm too young still, you know. But when I'm old enough I'll find her and…" he stopped, noticing that neither woman was paying attention anymore. "Hey!" but his efforts were futile.

"_Mate_, Sango, did you _hear_ that?"

She nodded, solemnly, "I certainly did."

In Kagome's lap Shippo huffed and muttered, "Well it's not like _you_ could have one, Kagome…"

"Why not, Shippo?" the schoolgirl ruffled the kit's hair, much to his displeasure and he leapt away, bristling.

"Because the _male_ has to start it!" the stunned silence that greeted this information made Shippo shiver with unease. Innocently he looked around, wondering if he'd dirtied his tail or if Inuyasha had snuck up behind him. When there was no obvious answer he looked up, perplexed, and asked, "What'd I say?"

* * *

Endnote: I'm only answering a few reviewers this time around...but first up is: Allazareth! 50th reviewer! YAYS! Thank you very much! 

_**Yami Chikara**_ I loved your no nonsense attitude with me, hehe, sorry it took me a while to "get my ass" back and post (grins), butIhope itmakes you feel better to know that I did itfor you and others like you that stick with me and show such eagerness...it makes it worthwhile to me...**_SerenaClearwater_** (grimaces) yea, sorry about that teaser, it was only a dream scene...everyone has strange dreams. I know I still dream about my ex boyfriend even though we've been split for more than a year... _**Crolynx**_ (bows low) THANK YOU for recommending Sueric, I've been reading her purity series now for a week or two...(sighs fondly)...great stuff...makes me giggle, my favorite thus far has been Ryomaru and Nezumi's story...(to those of you without a clue, go and READ IT! EXCELLENT STUFF!) I absolutely adore the twins Ryomaru and Kichiro, so devilishly entertaining and sharp as tacks...also I loved your expression, inhaling a Coke...(giggles) _**Okazin**_ LOL, I bust a gut laughing at your compliment,(Thank you by the way)but would you believe I still struggled with English/Language Arts/whatever the heck they call it in 7th grade? Now, as a senior in high school I sleep throughit thanks to one teacher in 8th grade who sparked something in me that has yet to die...gruff old guy but with a heart of gold... **_zig_** you did come off a little strong and it kinda just killed my inner flame for writing this story (I haven't touched it since...well I cna't remember, you're all lucky this chapter was finished ahead of time or you'd never get to resolve that preview cliffy) but I consider your point valid. I wrote her purposefully that way, but due to some of my own personal influences, she might've taken on a nature of her own, and that'd be entirely my fault...but besides the stress she's under I wrote her as older, with a few more years of dealing with the pain of "Kikyo-loving-Inuyasha" to deal with. Kagome is a saint but even saints have a limit, a threshold, a breaking point...I guess that's part of what I was aiming for, to put her there and then pull her back from the edge...but I could easily have screwed up and I thank you for calling me on it, though it has deflated myflame for this fic.**_Sally Smith_** it was your last review that made me (out of guilt (sheepish look)) sit down and type this up...there really was little excuse becuase I had it ready, so I had to give you this chapter at least...I'm sorry to have made you wait...thanks for writing in with the encouragement...(winks)...No preview this time guys...and no promises on the hiatus just yet...we'll have to see...Thank you all nonetheless! (bows)


	8. Apology

**Disclaimer:** Nope

**A/N:** Well guys, seems my spark has returned (grins)! This was done before I lost that spark, but I already have the next chapter finished becuase with your help I've been able to recapture whatever it was I lost before...THANK YOU! This story probably would've died if not for you all...The things in italics are the interludes of the story that Mrs. Higurashi is reading some 500 or so years into the future. **Inudoushi** means "Dog spirit" I think. It's, as best as I can tell, and I'm no Japanese expert so that's with little authority, a synonym for Inuyasha's name. **Chikara** means "powerful." or so I've heard. The rest of the chapter I think speaks for itself...ENJOY! My thanks to all at the end...

**

* * *

****Apology**

* * *

**The Legend of the Shikon Jewel and Family Tetsuseiga**

_Long ago, when demons and gods still roamed the lands and the forests of the earth, there lived a particularly fearsome demon that was called Naraku. Naraku was strong and cunning and arrogant, but he was also a cruel. Humans and demons alike feared him for Naraku's hunger for death was infamous. He slaughtered entire villages and armies of men, women and children alike. Humans had no power against him. The greatest warriors that man could provide were sent to find and kill Naraku, but each one failed and was never seen again._

_Demons also fell victim to Naraku's power. He lured and trapped many of the greatest, fiercest, smartest, and oldest demons of the lands, sucking away their energies to keep himself youthful. Just as the humans did, the demons sent armies and their bravest, most powerful warriors to slay Naraku, but each one failed and was never seen again. _

_For years Naraku plagued the people of Japan, he was more constant than disease, more serious than fire, flood, or drought, and he was far more sinister and cruel. None, it seemed, would ever be able to defeat him—for Naraku had a secret weapon that none could fight: the Shikon Jewel._

_The Shikon Jewel was Naraku's most prized possession. The treasure had the power to strengthen any demon's powers, to grant the most terrifying wishes. But the Shikon Jewel had one weakness: it was made from the battling of souls. Naraku knew that although the Jewel served him well it would just as eagerly serve his enemies, and worse still, if a human with enough spiritual power gained control of the Jewel that mere human could destroy its abilities altogether. Naraku so feared that he would lose the Shikon Jewel that he hid it deep within his body, where he hoped none would ever be able to find it. Yet although many demons did try to destroy Naraku and steal the Jewel none could succeed, for without the help of a spiritually gifted human the Jewel remained horribly tainted and enslaved to Naraku's awful will. There seemed no chance of defeating the terrible Naraku without this gifted human—and that human simply didn't exist._

_When Naraku was at the height of his power, however, a young and ambitious dog demon named Inudoushi rose up, determined to defeat the terrible demon. Despite his strength and determination Inudoushi would have failed as all the others that preceded him had, if not for the fact that he had found a very unusual woman. She was human, but she wielded her soul as a weapon as only the most rare and powerful humans can. She was young, tall, proud, and beautiful as a goddess. In those times she was called Chikara for her powerful spirit…_

* * *

By morning the downpour had ceased, though a faint drizzle and thick fog remained in its wake. The light was dim and barely able to penetrate through the mists. When Miroku woke to such a sight he pursed his lips. Despite such beauty the countryside had now grown significantly more dangerous. If a demon hid in the murky, stagnant fog Miroku doubted even Inuyasha would scent such a threat—and certainly none of them would see it…but the monk kept such thoughts to himself when Sango awoke a short time later and stared out of their tree-provided shelter, her warm chocolate gaze entranced at the storm's after effects. Though she said nothing Miroku could easily tell she appreciated its beauty…but only for a moment before— 

"This is going to be tough to see through." She whispered, as if the fog might somehow increase the range that her voice could carry.

He nodded, "We'll make slow progress today." She didn't look back at him but he knew she'd heard because she let out a long sigh and glanced in Kagome's direction. The schoolgirl was still sleeping with Shippo dozing fitfully on her stomach as it rose and fell with each breath.

"Kagome needs to get home…" she shook her head sadly, "Every delay means she spends just that much more time away from her family, and it means that they worry about her all the more."

Miroku's violet eyes were stern as he stared over at the sleeping girl as well. Sango had whispered to him of the news that Shippo had provided the night before, which seemingly validated Inuyasha's claim to love Kagome. How could he forge such a link if he didn't have feelings for the young woman after all? But Miroku knew that Sango was still tense about the situation, ready to leap at the chance to defend Kagome, like a big sister or a mother…that thought left the monk somewhere between absolutely tickled and…somehow saddened. Sango had lost so many people that she loved…she deserved a family of her own, but as he frequently worried about in his own case, it seemed that the quest for vengeance on Naraku would keep them all from making families of their own for years to come…_we don't have forever…_

Quietly he reached for the demon slayer's hand, gently holding it within his own. She jerked her gaze in his direction, both surprised and suspicious, but when she saw that the monk's gaze held no obvious signs of lechery she relaxed slightly.

"I know how you must connect with her, Sango," he murmured his voice barely above a whisper in the misty, dim morning air, "You've lost a lot…" his violet eyes were genuinely concerned and compassionate, "It must be very hard for you to watch Kagome go through the same thing…"

Sango lowered her gaze from the monk's and bit her lip, trying to keep herself reserved and in control. "Miroku…"

"Yes, my Sango?"

"What you say is true but…" she hesitantly looked up at him, knowing that she wouldn't be able to keep the mixture of pain and gratitude she felt from being clearly seen in her eyes and face, "I have also _gained_ a lot as well."

The monk gave her delicate hand a good squeeze and offered her a warm smile. "I'm most certainly pleased to be at your service…"

Sango turned quickly away to hide her blush. _I'm so glad that he can't read my thoughts right about bow!_ Suddenly she pitied Kagome a _lot_ more than she had before.

* * *

Just as Miroku had predicted upon waking they didn't travel very far at all that day. The afternoon came and went without the clouds or the drizzle ever really ceasing, and it wasn't long at all before the frailer humans of the group started to look pale and weary. Inuyasha could smell their discomfort—the soaked stench of their clothing over their clammy flesh, the fatigue that began to accumulate in their individual aromas. He knew such scents well, and had learned just how long he could on average push the group before someone _had_ to sit down or rest… 

On the foggy day that average was off by several hours. It was chillier than usual and Kagome in particular was unhappy. He knew this both by scent as well as, disturbingly so; through the link that they seemed to most stubbornly share. As the walk continued with few rests through the fog into the darker evening he could _feel_ her chilled body almost as if it were his own…and oddly enough rather than irritate or depress him, Inuyasha caught himself thinking over his embarrassing dream from the night before.

_This drizzle would've soaked her school uniform's shirt well enough for it to be just like my dream…**if** I hadn't given her my haori when we set off…_ all of the group used various scarves and outer garments to shield themselves from the rain—all but Inuyasha who'd shed his haori for Kagome. Again he'd done it begrudgingly, glaring at her when he handed over the robe, but unlike before she hadn't had to _ask_ him for it. He forced his thoughts of that dream away as fast as they invaded his mind, worrying that Kagome might get a hold of them…but through her miserable chill she seemed to be numb to him that day—which he thanked the very gods for!

It grew dark abruptly and Inuyasha sensed that although they might've walked for an hour or so more on a sunny, happy day, this time they were ready to quit…even so he walked them until someone _else_ suggested it…it was Miroku this time, complaining of how cold his feet were in his sandals. Inuyasha's feet were hard and calloused—an adaptation from his father's demon half of the family—so he almost never complained of them and _hated_ wearing shoes with a passion, but he knew that Miroku couldn't claim any such advantage. So, grumbling and growling at Miroku for "making" them stop with his lousy choice of footwear, Inuyasha reluctantly joined the group where they struggled to make a campfire just under the boughs of a tree to make sure that it was sheltered from the slow drizzle. Such a task proved to be more difficult than at first imagined and the fire that they _did_ manage to start was pathetic in comparison to some that they'd sheltered around in the past.

Sango, Miroku, Kagome, Shippo and Kilala huddled around the warmth of the fire as the sunset while Inuyasha remained distant and ever sulky in the branches of the tree above the weak fire. The mist was so thick in the air, and it was already so gloomy, that the hanyou didn't fear that his companions might spot him where he was, hovering in the perfect place to absorb the fire's rising heat. From there he could quietly observe the group and listen to their chatter, as well as be at a good spot to take in the world around them. If danger reared its ugly head he could move swiftly to protect the group. There was also the added bonus of being able to stare down at Kagome without worrying whether she saw it or not.

Memories of his dream from the night before floated back to him and had it been daylight and the air were clear of moisture, his bright red face wouldn't have been distinguishable from the coloration of his Fire Rat robes. If he concentrated just lightly enough he could feel the warmth that was dancing along her fingers and palms as she extended them out over the fire below him. Her scent and her presence remained with him even as he half dozed off into a smoky haze from the fire, awash in his explicit fantasy dream…he had forgotten how easily things that he _really_ didn't want shared tended to slip through the link and go straight to her…

Not an hour after they had settled about the fire Kagome tapped on Sango's shoulder and started whispering in a low voice to the demon slayer. Miroku pretended not to notice, keeping his hands out over the fire—but his eyes darted in the women's direction twice. Inuyasha, meanwhile, was still oblivious in his high tree perch. But Shippo, unlike the older, more learned monk and the dazed hanyou; was just unable to hold back his curiosity at what could spur Kagome to whisper to Sango so blatantly. With his green eyes wide ad eager he leapt onto Kagome's shoulder, pushing the schoolgirl and the demon slayer apart.

"Tell me! Tell me! Is it about Inuyasha? We _should_ talk about him and how rude he is!"

"Shippo!" both girls exclaimed, their eyes flying up to the tree branches.

The hanyou remained still, though his ears had folded backward angrily. For a moment he considered not answering at all—but then rethought that realizing it would seem too out of the ordinary…so he leapt free and clear of the tree's branches entirely, landing with a wet _smack_ noise in the grass outside the circle of the tree's umbrella-like reaches. He restrained a grin when he noted how each of the others—especially Shippo—jumped at his appearance. He kept the scowl on his face firm and unflinching as his amber eyes dug into the very guilty kitsune child.

"Oh no!" the young green-eyed youkai panicked, clinging to Kagome's back, hiding in her raven hair. "Hide me!"

Kagome's eyes turned on Inuyasha with a hard look. "Inuyasha…" her tone was a clear warning but he ignored it and strode into the drier circle that was created by the tree's boughs. Miroku and Sango stared at him mutely as he came, their expressions carefully neutral. Kaogme's meanwhile remained openly hostile.

"So Shippo you wanna talk about me _now?_" he taunted, but his eyes were locked with the schoolgirl, not the cringing kit, as he joined the circle around the fire. The young woman's dark eyes glittered in the firelight; her hair sparkled. The wet ends were beginning to frizz as they dried from their exposure to the drizzle from that day. Her face was creased with lines of irritation and fatigue. She was one very cranky miko that evening…

"No!" Shippo squeaked, still hiding in his surrogate mother's hair.

But Kagome was fed up with Inuyasha's behavior and she raised her voice right after the kit's in difference. "Yes, actually…" she half-growled, her usually pleasant, high voice cold and dark. Her expression challenged him, dared him to compete, "We do."

The sudden stares of shock on the monk and the demon slayer's faces, and from Shippo's as well through the thick curtain that was the schoolgirl's hair, echoed Inuyasha's own feeling of astonishment. It was all he could do to organize a calm, sarcastic reply to her. "Oh well—what ya got to throw at me now, bitch?" he snarled it making sure that special emphasis was put on the word that he knew she hated so much. 

Yes—that did it. The girl's eyes narrowed to thin slits, dark with something that bordered on hate. The hanyou cringed inwardly at it, but outwardly he forced a satisfyingly cruel smirk on his handsome face and grinned at her, his white fangs gleaming in the fire's orange light.

"Shippo's right!" Kagome muttered, her voice quaking and dangerously quiet, "You are an insensitive jerk! Everything you do is thoughtless! Sometimes you just make me so…so…" her words seemed to fail her and Inuyasha saw that she was shaking. He could scent as well as _feel_ the intensity of her emotions as they flowed off her…and most of them weren't _real_ anger. He realized with a jolt that their earlier arguments had been fueled by her simple rage and continual frustration with him regarding…he froze as the link seemed to open up, shaking with the rush and strength of the young woman's feelings.

_She didn't really ever hate me…she was covering everything else up…_and he was just starting to feel the tip of the iceberg with her as the link opened and fluttered, like a slowly blossoming flower, a rose opening to let him view it's delicate, precious innards. Waves of her emotions coursed through him, confusing him, making his own muscles tense and shake intermittently, as if they couldn't make up their minds. For a moment he was unable to distinguish his own feelings from Kagome's…and the hanyou's golden eyes opened wide with genuine fear and shock.

Without the link's sudden flaring and supplied epiphany, Inuyasha would've simply scoffed and continued to fight with her—but no longer. Now he was paralyzed by her emotions, raw and huge and powerful. They had hidden deep within her soul, though he _knew_ he should've seen them there himself, but Kagome had never come out in the open with them, just as he had never confessed either…he felt the pain she experienced when she thought of Kikyo, of the longing she tried to hard to deny when she stared into his amber eyes, of the way she'd cried herself to sleep many nights after they'd fought and she'd fled through the well…_she can't escape it anymore…_he realized, knowing why she'd begun only now to crack. Without the promise of a return to her era, to her home and family, she was exposed and pinned to the ground like an ant under a shoe…

The girl whirled away from the fire, stomping off. Shippo, startled by the girl's movements and obvious rage, let go of her and scampered to cling onto Sango's legs instead, peering over her shoulder at the schoolgirl as she disappeared into the wet and ominously dark forest. Miroku turned slightly and his staff jangled, as if announcing his intention to speak, "Kagome?"

"What!" she didn't pause in her retreat and the tone that she'd growled the single word in made all of them, except Inuyasha, cringe.

"Where are you going? You're just going to get wet!"

"Away from _him!"_

Immediately Inuyasha recovered his shock and crossed his arms, ears turning backward. "Bitch—get back here!" he called as roughly as he could, but his voice, to his shame, shook with all he'd just taken in.

"Not in your life!" she shot back. To the two mortals eyes the girl had completely vanished into the dark, wet, foggy night, though her words still rung harshly in all of their ears, human and demon and half demon alike.

"Bitch—if you think I'm gonna let you—" but he never got to finish it before Kagome screamed out from the darkness her most dreaded word.

"Sit! Sit! Sit!"

There was a thud that reverberated for miles around in every direction as Inuyasha's face met the dirt. When he'd recovered the hanyou pulled himself up with a groan only to face the others and their accusing stares. He stiffened, a little overwhelmed by them all, and glared right back, dusting the mud and grass and other grit off his red robes.

"What the hell are you all staring at?" he growled, amber eyes narrowing.

If it hadn't already been imbedded into the stares Inuyasha now found himself looking at two disgusted humans and two small angry youkai. None of them seemed to appreciate his behavior now, and although Inuyasha wanted to rush after Kagome too he just _couldn't_ make himself do it so soon—and not while all of them were watching him so closely. He crossed his arms and grunted stubbornly, "Feh!"

"Feh yourself!" Shippo raised his voice in challenge, and Inuyasha pinned him with a particularly nasty glare. The kitsune cringed and looked terrified, but he refused to budge his position. "You should go apologize to her you idiot!"

"Apologize to that _bitch!"_ Inuyasha snorted and turned his nose in the air, "I'd rather die first, runt."

"Well at the rate you go you'll get your wish." Sango rolled her eyes and at her words Inuyasha hesitated, ears turning forward once more. _Damn it all! Stupid demon slayer is right!_ Through the link he felt Kagome's anger and misery as clearly as if it were his own—and now it ceased to go away, ceased to lessen when he commanded it…_did she do this or did I? The link is wider, more powerful…_

"Perfectly fine by me!" he growled at them, and then, despite their angry huffs and protestations, Inuyasha leapt into the tree's branches again, hovering on the farthest side from the other Shard-hunters, making sure that their backs were to him…he waited until they began to talk amongst themselves, angrily and about him at first, as if they were daring him to answer—which he didn't. Eventually their voices drifted to talk of what they'd do when they reached the monk they were searching for, Saishi. When they were steadily chatting Inuyasha knew he had waited long enough.

As silently as he could he crept to the far endings of the tree's branches…delicately he slipped down from one limb and waited as it steadied, swaying with his weight poised at the end of it. With his ears pricked he looked back toward the orange-yellow light of the fire and saw the silhouettes of his friends' backs facing him…none of them turned to look toward him and he felt a little of the tension leave him. _Bless their bad ears…_he smirked.

He let go of the branch once it settled and landed with hardly a sound, besides the squish of the wet grass under his toes, crouched. There he waited for several seconds, listening to his companions' voices droning on and on about the monk Saishi. Miroku started to flirt _really_ badly and Sango must've been violated because a moment later a slapping sound rang through the air and Miroku cried out indignantly. Shippo laughed…

_Morons don't suspect a thing!_ He thought triumphantly, and then rushed away into the forest, leaving nothing for the others to hear but the _squish_ and _slurp_ of mud and the _whoosh_ of the wind in the hanyou's robes…he quickly disappeared into the mist, catching Kagome's scent without even really needing to try…

* * *

Conversation ceased around the fire. The little crackles and snaps of the vivacious flame were, for several minutes, the only sound at all…finally Shippo hopped onto Sango's shoulder, a huge smirk in his mischievous green eyes. 

"Yep," he announced, "Inuyasha's gone now."

The monk turned to the demon slayer with one hand out, palm held upwards, "I believe you owe me five yen, Sango my dear."

"No—it took him close to fifteen minutes to leave after Kagome, Miroku! You said within _ten_ minutes…"

"Oh Sango!" Miroku shook his head, the violet eyes gleaming with feigned outrage, "Are you trying to tell me that you made this bet without adequate funds to pay it off in the likely event that I won?"

Sango scowled and slapped away his still open and waiting hand, "No—you didn't win. _I won._ It took Inuyasha longer than ten minutes to leave after her…"

"But Sango," Shippo interjected, like a conscience from her shoulder, "You said your bet was that Inuyasha wouldn't go after her at _all!"_

"Ah ha!" Miroku pointed one finger at the demon slayer accusingly, "The kitsune called it—pay up now Sango," he smirked and leaned a little closer to her, leering through Shippo's presence on her shoulder, "Unless you'd like to discuss a change in currency?" one dark eyebrow shot up hopefully.

"Hentai!" she pushed him away, trying to hide her laughter.

* * *

He didn't even really need his nose to find her. Following her was like tracing over a memory in his mind, the path she'd taken was almost familiar to him. Had he thought about it at all Inuyasha would've found it eerie, even disturbing, that he hardly bothered scenting Kagome and he didn't think about it. Had he thought about it he wouldn't have followed her in the first place in fact, thus his lack of thought was, this time, a very good thing. Despite his aggressive protection and jealous custody of the schoolgirl he was in fact intensely shy of her. The fear of making a mistake or of betrayal, or of rejection, was constant, though he'd never allowed himself to admit it. And if he showed everyone that he cared for her…it just didn't seem right. _A warrior must never betray his weakness…_

But Inuyasha didn't think about that when he flew through the forest, following Kagome's footsteps like the ghosts of memory.

He found her leaning against a tree trunk, looking through the mist, _waiting_ for him. That she new he was coming was evident in both her scent and her posture. He didn't have to use his nose or the link to see that she was _very_ angry. The silvery light of the moon shone down in beams through the fog. Everything seemed grayish blue. He smelled water a short distance away—a pond. There was absolutely no wind; the air was thick and stagnant. The silence was heavy and deafening to the hanyou as he met her angry, bitter gaze and waited, gathering courage and trying to think coherently.

"Kagome…" he whispered gently, and then suddenly found that her dark eyes were too much for him to handle. He wrenched his gaze away, focusing on the glistening grass in between them. "…I'm sorry." He gulped, unsure of how real the apology sounded, unsure of whether he could safely look up to her beautiful eyes without seeing such negative emotion. He hated seeing her in pain, hated _feeling_ it still more…he kept his own mind tight, trying to shy away from the bonds that existed between them. He didn't want to feel her hostility, didn't want to feel her turn herself away from him forever.

"What?"

It was a croaked sound, as if a toad's spirit had invaded Kagome's pretty human body…he frowned at himself for the quick thought, it brought back memories from his _too_ vivid dream of the night before. _Is it just me or is this scene very much like my dream only minus the rain and with Kagome and I having exchanged places…_he found that his insides quivered at the possibility—caught somewhere between insane excitement and wild fear. _Just a dream, a damn interesting one—but just a dream nonetheless…_

He opened his mouth to repeat his last words, but his mind was strangely buzzing and he couldn't think clearly, "I…" _I love you…_ "I'm…" _I'm stupid for hurting you and calling you names when I know they hurt you… _"Kagome…" _Kagome you should just slap me across the face now because I'm just a miserable half-breed that doesn't know how to treat a wonderful, beautiful, sweet, loving, loyal…_ his internal conversation with her died as he suddenly realized that her dark eyes had changed. They no longer drilled into him with shock or anger or confusion. They were…_warm…_she was staring at him as if he had spoken aloud. There was shock in her stance, in her scent—through their link…

His ears fell backwards as he realized with a jolt; _she heard my thoughts…_and then whispering through his own mind he heard and felt her, beautiful to the core: _(I can't believe this is happening! But…I can see it in his face…he's gotta know I feel it too! And Inuyasha!)_ Her thoughts changed abruptly and he noted that her eyes had centered firmly on him, full of emotion and near tears. As her thoughts reached him again it was all he could do to keep himself standing upright.

_(How could you think of yourself as a half-breed? I don't care about that! I **never **have! How could you let that hold you back! If I love you and you love me…why can't we be together…? I'd do anything for you, if only you asked me to stay! All the things I said, the terrible things, I've just wanted you for so long but you always you kept me away…it hurt so much inside…)_

He closed his eyes, his mind reeling, and pushed her thoughts and feelings away from his own, surprised that he had figured out how to exert even that little bit of control over the thing. _I can't give in to this…I just can't…_it wouldn't help either of them. When he had revealed his emotions to Kikyo everything ended in disaster—he refused to allow that to happen with Kagome.

Inuyasha looked up and met the frozen Kagome's eyes, her sparkling, beautiful, expectant gaze… and he sighed. "I'm sorry I was a jerk…" he forced his mind and face to harden, the scowl he wore like clothing fell over his features with a practiced ease, masking the deeper, quieter emotions there for now, stifling them below insensitivity. "Now would you please get your butt back to camp?"

The schoolgirl's expression died, though her eyes still lingered on his, hopefully, longingly. After a moment she stepped forward, closing the distance between them rapidly. She threw her arms around his shoulders and embraced him. Inuyasha stiffened immediately—first because it reminded him of his dream, secondly because he scented the girl's salty tears spilling onto his red robed shoulder.

"I'm sorry too Inuyasha!" she cried into his shoulder, her hands clutching him tightly. "For all the things I called you and all the times I was crabby without a reason…I'm so sorry!" for such a small thing she was awfully strong! He admired her lithe muscles silently and was abruptly overcome with her scent. _So close and so beautiful…_his stomach was doing flip-flops like some kind of gymnast.

Hesitantly, terrified at the thought of losing control of himself and letting her see how her closeness was affecting him so strongly, he encircled his arms around her waist securely. A long, shaky sigh shuddered out of his lungs. _Her hair smells so…tempting…_

"It's okay Kagome…" he murmured quietly into that silky black mass that reeked of the pure teasing seduction that Kagome had become to him. The link seemed to tug on the inside of his mind, drawing him nearer. He felt, for a moment, as if he were out of control of the whole scenario—a puppet on long invisible strings. He obeyed the every whim of whatever sick operator controlled those strings…for a split second his hands tightened over Kagome, moving further downward to rest in the small of her back...his claws flexed delicately, making tiny tickling caresses over her. He felt her inhale sharply where her head rested against his shoulder and then she eased into him…her head turned so that he felt her light, soft and warm lips touch against the skin of his neck…

Inuyasha stiffened against the mysterious bonds of attraction and pushed Kagome away gently, setting her at arms length. When he regarded her, the schoolgirl's eyes were dark with strong emotions that he could feel boiling just under the surface of their link—and with his nose he scented desire newly sprung from within her. _No—it's wrong to think of her like that. I said I was sorry—the rest is just not possible._ He set his will to that, no matter how much his heart detested such an argument, and stepped back smoothly from Kagome, withdrawing his touch. He forced his own amber gaze to harden.

"Ready to go back now, Kagome?" he asked, quietly.

Slowly, and with a genuinely pleased, almost hopeful expression, she slipped her hand in with his, smiling in the bluish moonlight. Despite his forced demeanor of business Inuyasha found that he couldn't help but smile down at her a little. "Yes Inuyasha, I'm ready to go now." She squeezed his hand in hers and Inuyasha felt the young woman's abrupt acceptance and happiness buzzing through the link…

Intimidated, he looked away from her and pulled his hand—albeit gently—from hers. Although he felt her disappointment at his strange behavior he didn't look to see it on her face. _Feeling_ it was bad enough. Guardedly he took the lead and carefully forced his side of the link as closed as he could make it. Peace and acceptance between them was a good thing. Forgiveness was a necessary thing to assure that the group remained sane in their journeys, but _love—_no matter how badly they _both_ wanted it—was not the place to go.

Determinedly Inuyasha strode onward, leading a still confused, but considerably more satisfied Kagome behind him.

* * *

**Inudoushi Meets Chikara**

_In the warm months between the long and hard winters of the land, Inudoushi stalked the evil demon Naraku, fighting his many bastardly offspring and distractions. Many times he encountered the evil demon and many times he barely escaped with his life. Though Inudoushi was strong and proud and stubborn, just as the spirit of the dog is expected to be, he realized that he would never be able to conquer Naraku. Yet he continued to try, fruitlessly._

_One summer, when he was resting on the great roots of an ancient tree, sleeping deeply, a young human girl appeared. Calling with her soft voice to the sleeping demon, the girl asked, "Demon, how is it that you seek to kill the evil Naraku alone? You will never win."_

_Inudoushi was startled awake by her voice and when he set his eyes on her he was entranced with her grace and beauty. He knew immediately that she was something more than the average human girl, but her words had insulted him and thus he replied unkindly, "If you do not leave me to sleep I will eat you whole, human girl."_

_And to him she replied, "That would make you no better than the one you seek to destroy."_

_Inudoushi was once again surprised by the mere girl's boldness, but he could no longer deny her wisdom and strange powers. He said to her, "Tell me of another way to kill Naraku and I will, but there are no demons that will support me in this quest. They have all given up such a task as futile."_

_The girl spoke again, "You cannot defeat Naraku without my help. I will join you."_

_Inudoushi could not believe her. He laughed at her and tried to shoo her away with his doggish barks and growls. "You are mad woman! Leave me to my dreams!"_

_But the girl refused to leave and followed him loyally for years, seeking Naraku at his side. Inudoushi never understood how it was that she felt herself powerful enough to defeat such an evil demon as Naraku, but he couldn't deny her strength._

_She bore a soul unlike any other…_

* * *

_Endnote:_ And now to my most generous and supportive readers reviewers and fans! THANK YOU! 

**Crolynx** (haven't gotten to her other series, but I have left several reviews...) **Rinicat, freelke, Yami Chikara** (thank you! I know it was cruel of me to leave such a preview...hehe, and there is far MORE Shippo-cuteness coming up next chapter, I promise!) **SerenaClearwater** (lol! It would be weird if she was...(shudders)) **toxiclollipop** (Yes, I like the idea of links with/between people a lot. I do believe that in the real world there are things that inexplicably attract people together, more than appearance or personality, something unseen...) **NefCanuck** (I am most happy to report that my spark has indeed returned...(BIG grins!)) **agent-doo** (THANK YOU for taking the time to write it! I've suspected I'd had ghost readers, but to finally hear from one is most gratifying! (snickers) I'll probably always write, no matter what, so hiatus from writing just isn't possible, it's apart of my life, and as it turns out, this story survived my struggle! I'm very pleased to report!)_ **zig**_ (it's okay...this story also may have been a little personal for me too, in that Kagome's jaded characterization was a reflection of my onw at the time I started this story...my ex boyfriend and ex best friend simply stopped speaking to each other altogether. I'll likely never speak to him again as long as I live b/c he won't deal with me at all anymore, even though some part of me will always love him more than I love myself...so Kagome's frustration is partly my own. Unlike Kagome here, my own story with this guy is doomed, though years from now I'll likely still dream about him from time to time, spring wide awake, and cry bitter tears for the terrible way things have turned out between him and I--he was, after all, my first love...) **Tiamath** (Do I suspect that you already have a guess as to the reason(s) for the age gaps in the records...or do you trust me to provide? Either way I thank you! And THANK YOU a bunch for supporting me!) **sarah, Lena17** (I have not decided on that yet...) **inuyasha'sbabe07 **(yes, the dream was Inuyasha's...I think we probably all have those sex dreams all the time, though most often we fail to remember them, right? That was just what it was...we can't control our dreams, though sometimes it DOES signify hidden or repressed desires...and YES, Mrs. H and Souta are not cltuching at straws...there is a connection...) **fanfiction1** (as requested: Last chapter mrs. H and Souta searched for old records lying around their shrine from the last 500 years. The records had been copied and re-copied from the Feudal Era. The man who copied them last was a great grandfather of Souta's, named Asenka. Looking through the records for births and future marriages and such for the family called Tetsuseiga. They found one daughter recorded, unnamed except that she was born to a family bearing the name "Tetsuseiga." What was odd about it was that it was a girl and it was recorded. Only boys were being recorded at that time (women in Japan weren't exactly free spirited...) Later, a LONG time later, they found mentioning of a boy's birth to the family. But it was separated by 20 years...so is there more than one family? 20 years is a LONG time between children, especially then. Next they tracked marriages and found a member of that family marrying, but sit was a daughter marrying, and nearly 50 years after her birth. Souta lost hope and gave up, but Mrs. H noticed a picture taken in the early 1900s of the Tetsuseiga family (some of them anyway) and thought that they looked a little different...so she investigated the book that Souta found containing family myths and legends...does that help?) **FanstasyFreak** ( have you read "Somebody's Waiting For Me" yet? The epilogue is like the best...(sighs fondly)) **Inuadmirer** (I don't intend on stopping soon...(winks)) **claire, cool-chick-rae** (thank you to you both for taking the time to review SWFM's last chapter for me! (grins) I'm becoming obsessed with the bath myself--I anticipate a bathing scene perhaps later in this story and then again in WOAWO...) **Okazin** (As mentioned earlier, more Shippo cuteness is coming...)

And now the preview:

_"Feh!" he snorted, suddenly as red as his Fire Rat haori, "Not you too, hentai." He growled, "Why don't you just go and mate Sango then, hmm?" _

_Miroku's smile was immediate and genuine, "What makes you think I haven't already?" he smirked. _

Later...don't forget to leave me a review! (waves goodbye)


	9. Temple

**Disclaimer: **Nope

**A/N:** I'm making this one quick guys b/c, I'm apologizing now...this chapter came out longer than usual by quite a bit...I'm sorry. They reach the temple in this chapter, but next chapter they see the famous(infamous?) Saishi...again the italics at the end are more of Mrs. H's story... enjoy!

**

* * *

The Temple**

The weather was lighter; traveling became easier. Although the air remained chilled the Shard-hunters made good time. Along the way Kagome sensed a Jewel Shard, but all of them decided not to investigate it—the quest's new primary goal was to reach Saishi…though that wasn't the only reason the group settled so easily on a lack of action.

Kagome fell ill. Early in the morning when Miroku guessed that they were only three days' walking distance from the village and the temple that Saishi was said to frequent, she was groggy and cold. Her skin was clammy and moist, as if with fever. At first the schoolgirl tried to hide her illness, to underplay its seriousness, but the others could see it in her ashen features: she was suffering. Their progress was slow; a journey that should've taken three or four days grew into a week. Kagome's mysterious bout of sickness lightened as suddenly as it had arrived and things went—seemingly—back to normal.

Miroku, Sango and Shippo all assumed that the illness was food poisoning, a strange flu, or perhaps, homesickness or heart-sickness. None of them knew what had transpired between Inuyasha and Kagome on the night the hanyou had left them to chase Kagome in the rain, but they knew it had been just enough to keep things sane. The schoolgirl's disposition, despite her illness, was uplifted, much to their relief. Yet at the same time the two remained distant—perhaps even more so now than before the incident. None of them dared ask while they were so close to Saishi. Getting Kagome home seemed the smartest, most correct thing to do.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, knew better than to assume the illness was chronic and simple. He knew because he had been feeling the sickness himself right along with Kagome. He spoke nothing of it, and remained, to the best of his ability, unaffected by his discomfort—yet when he called the group to stop so early in the day it wasn't just because Kagome was ill, it was actually because he too was miserable. Whether the symptoms were somehow Kagome's that he shared through their strange link, or his own that Kagome was experiencing, he just couldn't say.

If the monk Saishi, in all his supposed wisdom, didn't have an explanation for it, Inuyasha thought he'd kill him.

Soon enough the Shard-hunters entered the village grounds that Saishi favored. It was like any other settlement over Japan: rice fields and other crops were tended by the villagers, children played in the street, chased chickens about in the coops, dogs nosed through trash along the road.

When the Shard-hunters passed the field workers paused, staring wide-eyed at Inuyasha's white dog-ears. They knew a demon when they saw one. Most of them stayed quiet and turned back to their tasks, a small scowl the only evidence of their disdain. Some smirked or laughed outright at the sight. Others ignored Inuyasha altogether and focused on the less apparent strangeness of the group: that a slayer and a monk would travel beside a demon creature or any kind…

Inuyasha, leading the group as usual, dealt with their stares, all of them, the same way: he scowled. His white ears folded downward with his irritation and anger at them—or at least that was the image he tried to put across.

Kagome knew better than to believe it. Walking just behind him, with Sango and Kilala at her side, the schoolgirl could feel for the first time, what she had always suspected was true: Inuyasha was ashamed. Passing through the gauntlet of stares, of silent ridicule, made him curse his dual nature. He longed to look like the humans in those fields, to be simple and without the pain of his past haunting him. No Naraku, no Sesshomaru…he and Kikyo would've loved one another simply and truly. No complications.

Yet at the same time he was torn. He didn't want to relinquish his powers, his super-human strength. It was part of who he was, part of his pride. The fact that despite his mixed heritage, Inuyasha was _stronger_ than those judgmental humans in the fields and could kill the whole lot of them if he so wished, was the only thing that allowed him to pass through their midst with his head held up high.

Staring at his red robed backsides as they walked, Kagome felt the intense desire to comfort him, to throw one arm around his waist and huddle close to him. She fought within herself, wondering if the display would embarrass him…and timidly resigned herself to letting him make the journey alone under the pressure of the villager's stares.

Almost as if in response to her decision she felt a lingering flutter of weakness rush through her limbs. Instinctively she clung to Sango with one hand. "Kagome?" the slayer asked, stumbling a little at the schoolgirl's added weight.

Though neither of them saw it Inuyasha's ears lifted from where they had been smashed against his head in irritation at the burden of the villagers' stares. One of those white ears unabashedly turned toward Kagome and Sango, trying to pick up their footsteps, their quiet words.

"I'm all right." Kagome assured her friend, but Sango's brown eyes were trained on her concernedly, and despite her words Kagome hadn't removed her steadying hand from Sango's shoulder and arm.

Even so she nodded and whispered back, "If you say so…"

The temple was beyond the village, in the forested mountainside beyond the village some miles away up the winding road. Even as the Shard-hunters passed through the center of the village they could easily see parts of the temple. Part of a building thrust out of the distant foliage here and there, beautiful even in the gloom of the day. Another hour's walk brought them to the gates where two monks waited as guards, sitting in puddles of their own robes—very similar to Miroku's own—seemed to be meditating quietly. Their shaved heads somehow managed to gleam even in the sunless early spring day.

Seeing Inuyasha their faces grew tense, their eyes narrowed. Yet as they gazes wandered over the rest of the group that changed to astonishment. They caught sight of Miroku—and recognition bloomed on their features.

"Miroku?" the younger of the two queried, a smile trying to play at the corners of his mouth. "Is that really you?"

The lecherous monk stepped forward, brushing by Inuyasha as he did so, diffusing the hanyou's scowling, hostile stance. "Takoto? How long has it been, my friend?" Miroku's bluish eyes darted toward the older monk guard and suddenly a grin broke out on his handsome face, "Ishiro? Ah! You still owe me money as I recall!"

The younger monk—Takoto—burst out laughing and jumped swiftly to his feet, rushing to embrace Miroku. "It's been too long old friend!" behind them Ishiro was scowling, and trying to bark orders at Takoto, but no one was listening to him.

"Feh!" Inuyasha snorted irritably, crossing his arms over his chest. "Can we hurry this the hell up!" his golden eyes were sour and sullen, his ears turned backward.

His outburst drew Ishiro's attention. The older man pulled himself, with the help of a staff, to his feet slowly. He was of considerable girth, which explained his dependency on the staff turned walking stick. He glared at Inuyasha with narrow, sunken eyes, a permanent sneer written in his features. "Miroku! What type of trick is this?" he demanded.

Takoto and Miroku paused in their animated conversation and glanced back at the others. Both younger monks immediately sobered. Takoto moved away from Miroku, now eyeing Inuyasha and Shippo concernedly. Shippo returned their looks easily, and innocently, enough, but Inuyasha frowned so heavily at them that Kagome could almost feel the lines of unhappiness deepening in her own face out of sheer sympathy.

"It's no trick, Ishiro—though the way you go on without repaying me or acknowledging that you owe me the money is." Miroku returned, still smiling slyly. Takoto grinned back, restraining laughter at Ishiro's expense.

"This is not a time for jokes, you fool Miroku!" Ishiro huffed heavily; turning his nose up at both the Shard-hunters and the monk he supposedly owed money. "Explain yourselves."

Miroku bowed his head once, reverently. "Master Ishiro, my apologies." He began, blandly, "These are my friends: Inuyasha the half demon son of the great dog demon lord Intaisho, Shippo a kitsune youkai, Kagome Higurashi our strangely dressed priestess…" Kagome frowned at him for his introduction and blushed. Inuyasha continued to scowl threateningly.

"And beside Kagome is the lovely demon slayer Sango." Miroku paused momentarily to smile at her smoothly, before adding, "And the little cat demon on her shoulder is the ever faithful Kilala."

"That's interesting, Miroku, but useless." Ishiro sighed, heavily, as if life were such a bother, "Why have you brought them?"

Now Miroku bowed again, and with his head still lowered respectfully, he asked, "Master Ishiro, we, my friends and I, beg to see Master Saishi."

Ishiro's frown deepened, it rivaled Inuyasha's now for sure, "About what? You cannot waste the Great Master's time in just any way you wish, Miroku."

"We wish to speak with him, and ask his guidance, on a matter that is very dire to all of us, but to one of us, Higurashi Kagome, in particular…" he hesitated, uncertain, "It involves magic that none of us can understand."

"The miko cannot understand her own magic?" Takoto asked, his handsome gaze falling on Kagome curiously. In the pause during which his eyes remained trained on the young miko, he took _all _of her in, clearly being influenced by Miroku long ago. Before he had quite looked away Inuyasha was growling in warning, his golden eyes narrowed dangerously.

Takoto blinked, flushing. He bowed hurriedly and the low warning sound from the inuhanyou cut off—replaced by a heavy blush. Inuyasha turned his back on the staring monks, and avoided Kagome, Sango, and Shippo's gaze by turning his back to them, focusing on the forest instead. "Feh!" he grunted.

The young, and entirely well meaning Takoto looked frantically between Inuyasha's turned back, Kagome, and Miroku's nervous expression. "I meant no harm at all! I didn't know that she was the half-demon's mate! Miroku you should have told me, you know I know how dog demons are…"

"Uh…" Miroku swallowed nervously, speechless.

Inuyasha turned quickly back, amber eyes flashing. "We're not mates!" he shouted, though there was no malice in his tone, no spite—and the denial sounded empty. Takoto flinched at it, and his eyes flicked to Kagome, who was blushing furiously, still clinging to Sango some ways behind Inuyasha. This time he looked swiftly away again, though not before Inuyasha pinned him with an icy glare.

"I did not know…" Takoto began again, still pale as one of the dead.

"Feh! Stupid monk! I was just defending her from the perverted likes of you."

"Inuyasha—I think he gets it." Sango warned in a low voice from behind him.

Once again Inuyasha turned his back on them, grumbling and cursing under his breath.

Miroku faced Ishiro and Takoto nervously now, tight lipped. "The matter is very important…" he started, only to be silenced with a wave of Ishiro's fattened hand.

"I would let you through…" he began, "But I don't trust that—_thing."_ His eyes flicked toward the red Fire Rate robed backsides that faced them. "I've heard tales in my time that aren't pretty, Miroku. I don't want this temple destroyed, and I can assure you that Master Saishi doesn't want that either!" he huffed importantly and started to turn back to the cushion that he'd been sitting on before, as if the conversation were now over…

Sango pushed forward then, dragging Kagome with her. She bowed quickly to Master Ishiro, pulling the stumbling, dizzied Kagome with her. "Sir, if I may ask you to reconsider. Kagome is my close friend and she needs this Saishi-sama's help dearly. She cannot return home without it."

Ishiro's eyebrows met, kissing each other over his sunken eyes, "What is this?" he looked toward Miroku for an explanation.

Miroku bowed once again, hurriedly, "It is true, Master Ishiro. Kagome is from the future. She passes through a dry well that has magical properties with the help of her miko powers. Everyday she has passed through successfully to return to her family, everyday until a few weeks ago when this well ceased to work. The last time she leapt into it she thought she was drowning even though the well has been dry—and was when she leapt into it—everyday that I've seen."

Ishiro looked doubtful, though clearly interested. Takoto, meanwhile, was sold. "The future? Lady Kagome…" he stepped forward to Sango and the schoolgirl, his eyes shining with awe. "Tell me about it!"

Kagome, pale and still feeling oddly dizzy, scowled. "I uh…"

Sango immediately slapped a hand over Kagome's mouth. "Don't tell him a word Kagome, until they open up that gate and lead us to Saishi." She turned her suddenly powerful gaze on Ishiro and Takoto, threateningly, "Open the gate and let us in…" when she noticed the way that Ishiro turned his nose into the air and glanced quickly at Inuyasha—who still had his back turned to them though both ears were focused carefully on the conversation—Sango amended her sentence, "Let _everyone _in. Then Kagome will regal you with stories of 500 years into the future…"

"Yea!" Shippo squealed excitedly, "Don't forget to tell them about chocolate, Kagome!" he ran forward and jumped onto Miroku's shoulder, grinning eagerly.

She smiled at him, nodding, "How could I forget, Shippo?" through her smile, though, there was a profound sadness…_I might never get to have chocolate again myself_…

Behind her Inuyasha had once more decided to face the group, his expression somber now. He winced, catching Kagome's thought and, while feeling sympathetic for her he knew he would also miss Ramen for sure…and Kagome's homemade meals. Without realizing that he was doing it, the hanyou smiled faintly, already mourning the loss of such little pleasures.

Ishiro caught sight of the hanyou's mellow expression and, after seeing Sango's determination and Kagome's sadness; he sighed heavily. "Takoto…"

"Yes, Master Ishiro?" the younger monk answered immediately.

"Open the gates, escort Miroku and his friends to the guest halls, then alert Great Master Saishi of their desire to meet with him."

Takoto bowed lightly. "Yes Master." He hurried to open the gates after throwing Miroku a swift wink of triumph.

* * *

Miroku, Inuyasha, and Shippo were housed in the same room—in one long hall of screened rooms. Across a wide swathe of trees and grassy foliage, if they squinted, they could just make out the opposite hall that was smaller and made into the women's quarters. There Kagome and Sango with Kilala were housed. 

Without the girls Miroku had taken up a position in one corner and proceeded to meditate—or to sit quietly by Inuyasha's point of view. It looked boring to him, without his eyes open anything might sneak up on the monk…like an annoying fox demon kit for instance. Without the eyes open to watch for such an irritating pest, as well as to use them to glare daggers at the offending kitsune, Miroku was a prime target for attack. That was exactly what was happening too. As Inuyasha paced anxiously by the doorway, squinting out into the courtyard at the women's quarters in the distance, Shippo was stalking his immobile, blind, might-as-well-be-asleep prey named Miroku.

The floorboards squeaked under Inuyasha's angry tread. His hands had vanished into his sleeves. Occasionally he reemerged from his inner thoughts to glare in warning at the kitsune when the fox demon made too much sound or approached from the wrong angle. He wanted to shout, "Damn it Shippo! If you're going to pester him, do it the right way!" but he didn't dare do such a thing—he didn't want to expose Shippo's plot.

For the most part, however, the hanyou was absorbed with problems of his own—mainly that he felt like he could sleep for a year and still not be satisfied. Waiting for Saishi to summon them was going to drive him insane…just as being separate from Kagome was beginning to make him restless and crankier than usual. Through the link he knew Kagome had done the smart thing—she was sleeping. Every so often her dreams peeked through to him: flashes of her mother, her brother, Gramps…the cat. He smirked when he saw that, fond memories bubbling within him.

Shippo, tail in midair, wiggling around eagerly, had come to within half a foot of Miroku's right knee. Still the monk showed no sign of waking up out of his meditation. Shippo looked toward Inuyasha, his green eyes shining with eagerness…he implored, silently, the hanyou's help. But this time Inuyasha was distracted. His pacing had stopped and he was instead focused by the gardens in the courtyard outside—and the women's quarters beyond.

He was alone on this…Shippo tensed, preparing to spring…the kit leapt into the air, aiming himself for the monk's chest. A hand flew up, though the violet eyes never opened, and Miroku caught the fox demon child in one palm.

"Miroku!" Shippo whined, struggling in his grip.

The monk laughed, "You think I didn't know what you were trying to do, Shippo?"

"You had your eyes closed!" the kit protested, kicking and struggling still. His little tail bushed, his paws flung this way and that. "Let me go!"

With a sigh Miroku tossed the kit lightly, letting Shippo scamper, pouting, all the way to Inuyasha, where he crashed into the hanyou's bare feet. "It didn't work, Inuyasha!" he whined, tugging on the red Fire Rat pants about Inuyasha's ankles.

Inuyasha growled and nudged Shippo away. "Buzz off." He grumped.

For a moment Shippo frowned, upset, bored, and angry that Inuyasha hadn't helped him with his last attempt on pouncing Miroku. Then his green eyes took on the fox's characteristic mischievous glint. He bounded forward and perched himself on Inuyasha's head, making the hanyou growl again.

"Shippo," he snarled, "Are you too stupid to realize that Kagome's not here to sit me when I hit you now?" his voice grew even lower now, "And I do mean _when_ I hit you…not _if_…"

"Yea—I know." Immediately Inuyasha knew the kit's voice was too clever and assured for it to be good, "But I also know that's why you're sad, Inuyasha."

_"Sad?"_ he repeated, almost choking on the word in a mixture of annoyance and surprise.

"Sad." He felt Shippo nod against his head; "Sad because Kagome isn't here with us. You should just mate her already."

Just as he'd known he would be, Shippo found himself against the opposite wall a second later as Inuyasha, red in the face, stalked toward him, murder in his features as was usual when it came time for him to deal with the kit.

"Uh oh…" the kitsune leapt for Miroku swiftly—and the monk once again snatched the kit right out of the air without opening his eyes.

"Miroku—let him go or I'll just have to beat the both of you." Inuyasha warned, advancing on the quivering Shippo and the meditating monk, ears flattened warningly.

Slowly the violet eyes opened and the monk sighed heavily. "You know Inuyasha…" his gaze met with the golden intensity of the hanyou's eyes and he smirked, "Shippo has a point. You _should_ just go and _mate_ her…"

"Feh!" he snorted, suddenly as red as his Fire Rat haori, "Not you too, hentai." He growled, "Why don't you just go and mate Sango then, hmm?"

Miroku's smile was immediate and genuine, "What makes you think I haven't already?" he smirked.

Inuyasha was livid. He looked as if he might scream but decided against it at the last second only because there came a knock from the entryway. Three pairs of eyes—violet, green, and gold all focused on a timid old man bearing a tray full of tea and—_food_. Inuyasha could scent it easily: fish. His anger faded immediately as unease settled within him instead. He hadn't been able to eat as he normally had for a week or more. He'd eat a little—for nourishment—and then abandon it. It was as if his sense of taste had died somewhere back on the road when Kagome had become ill. So far their meals had been small and he'd been able to hide the change. This meal he doubted he could…

* * *

Kagome lifted her teacup as Sango poured more of the steaming liquid into it. The trickling sound the tea made as it fell into the cup made Kagome drowsy…her eyelids lowered slowly but surely. The cup wavered as it grew heavier in her grasp. Sango, alarmed, stopped pouring and set the pitcher down. Oblivious to Sango's concern, Kagome shakily lifted the little glass to her lips and sipped. The warmth of the stuff was revitalizing and she sighed, heavily. She gently eased the teacup back to a position on the table, her hands and fingers still shaking as she did so. For the first time Kagome noticed the involuntary movement of her hands and frowned, trying to concentrate and stop it. The shaking only seemed to grow worse. 

When she saw Sango's heavy, concerned gaze, she lowered her eyes, trying to deny to the slayer without saying a word that everything was fine. Her fingers released the teacup, disappeared into the sleeves of her school uniform's unbuttoned cuffs. She could feel heat on her face.

"You're still sick…" it wasn't a question.

Kagome lifted her eyes to the slayer, tiredly. "I just don't feel normal is all…maybe it's the weather." She tried to smile; the weather had been chilly for that time of year, hadn't it? She shrugged her discomfort and fatigue off, "I'm okay."

Sango frowned worriedly, her warm fingers reached out and brushed Kagome's arm, "But you're _still_ sick…have any idea what caused it? Do you want to see a healer?"

Kagome reached for the teacup again, almost defiantly, as if to prove once and for all to herself—and to the slayer—that she was in control, not her mysterious but steadily persistent sickness. As if mocking her desire for control, Kagome found that her fingers were trembling, unable to take a steady grip on the cup. She let go of it, pretending that it hadn't just happened, and frowned at Sango absently.

"No. I'm sure it will pass." But she didn't meet her friend's eyes, and both of them felt the possibility of a lie in her words…to cover her lame assurance, the schoolgirl yawned. "I'm going to go back to sleep, Sango. Wake me if they summon us, okay?" she was already walking back toward the futons on the other side of the dim room.

Sango nodded after her, then glanced after Kilala, who was chewing the last of her fish on the other side of the table. "Kilala." She called, her voice stern.

The cat looked up, mewed once.

"Go keep Kagome warm, okay?"

The kitten-like demon mewed a second time and, with a reluctant look back at her fish, abandoned the mostly-eaten meal for Kagome, who was already fast falling asleep on the futons. Sango watched Kilala lie down, curling up on Kagome's stomach. She sighed, worriedly. _I wonder what Miroku would have to say about this…_

Decided, she rose from the table and walked quietly for the door.

* * *

"You're not eating very much Inuyasha." Miroku observed, his violet eyes concerned. 

"Feh! This fish is rotten! I can smell the stench a mile away! You, Shippo and the girls won't be sleeping tonight you'll be so sick…" he scowled and nudged the fish away from him with one clawed finger.

Shippo was staring incredulously at the hanyou, bits of rice still sticking to his mouth, cheeks and chin, "I don't smell or taste anything wrong…"

"Yes," Miroku nodded slowly, eyeing Inuyasha suspiciously, "And something being rotten has never stopped you before, Inuyasha." The smirk on his face was too much for Inuyasha. He growled and looked down at his food rather than at their expectant, amused gazes.

"You want the fish, you go on right ahead, monk." He scoffed, turning his nose up at it stubbornly.

"Well, here then, finish the tea." Miroku handed the hanyou the pitcher, only to see Inuyasha's hands shaking unsurely as he handled it. Both Shippo and Miroku forgot to breathe when they saw the muscles of his hands quivering weakly. Inuyasha's face reddened as he set the thing down, his ears fell backward, his lips pinched together tightly.

"Feh." Was all he could manage, followed by his quick escape, "I'm leaving you bakas." In a second he was gone completely, slipping like a crimson wraith out the screened door—which he didn't bother to close behind him either. His heavy, but still bare, feet could be heard easily tramping down and away.

The silence left in the wake of his sudden departure was deafening, but neither kit nor monk immediately moved to fill it. The tea cooled soundlessly, the fish sat, dejected and alone. Shippo's green eyes blinked once while Miroku's violet ones remained turned inward and thoughtful.

"Miroku—he was _shaking_." Shippo hissed in shock a few seconds later.

Slowly Miroku nodded, one hand sneaking to his chin, fingering the skin there, as if he had a beard—or had had one anyway in a past life.

A sound at the door made both of them stiffen and startle, but only Sango peeked through, her pretty brown eyes filled with a mixture of worry and happiness at seeing them. She searched the room silently for a moment, apparently confused. "Where's Inuyasha…?"

"He left…Sango—_he was shaking_!" Shippo gushed, green eyes wide. "I think he's sick!" the kit bounded over the small table, making Miroku frown in disapproval, to grab hold of Inuyasha's untouched fish. He held it up, a dramatic expression covering his youthful face. "He didn't even _touch _it!"

Sango entered their room, her face forming a hard mask of negative emotions that Shippo and Miroku followed steadily with their eyes. She settled down on the cushion that had been Inuyasha's. The chocolate brown eyes, sweet as the sugary treat they made Miroku think of when he looked at them, looked between the monk and the kit, a conspiratorial worry glinting in her gaze. She stared pointedly at Shippo.

"Shippo—if I tell you what I think about Inuyasha you have to promise Miroku and I both that you won't tell Inuyasha or Kagome, even if they try to torture it out of you…do you promise?" her stern voice and expression left no room for doubt or uncertainty.

The kitsune made his decision immediately, "I want to know! I promise I won't tell either of them!" he hopped up and down excitedly, begging for several moments while Sango tried to calm him so she could begin her explanation.

"Shh! Shippo, that's good, I believe you—sit down and be quiet now while I explain, and remember: _you promised_." Shippo nodded at her words solemnly and settled down eagerly in the middle of the table, munching Inuyasha's untouched meal as he listened avidly to her.

"Kagome is sick too…she shakes, she won't eat, and she's constantly tired." She looked between the kit and Miroku slowly, "Is it the same with Inuyasha?"

The monk nodded darkly, "Yes, it is. Do you suspect foul play, Sango my dear?"

For once his affectionate terms failed to riffle Sango's confidence and seriousness. She pursed her lips, thinking deeply for several long moments. Shippo watched her, his mouth eagerly chewing fish and swallowing rice while his wide green eyes absorbed all that Sango and Miroku's shared glances could reveal.

Finally the demon slayer sighed heavily. "I think Kagome or Inuyasha or you or I would notice a curse or some malignant spirit." Her face twisted up in a frown, "But did you ever wonder if only one of them is sick?"

Miroku blinked, clearly confused. One hand rose to hold his chin upright. The violet eyes gleamed. "What do you mean?"

"I mean—what do we know of the link that it seems Inuyasha must've formed with her? What if it shares more than just thoughts and feelings? What if it's—"

The monk's finger shot out, pointing into the thin air between the slayer and himself, eyes wide with realization, "You know, I think you're right…only one of them would have to be ill and both could share the resulting discomfort!" he frowned suddenly, "But what's making one or the other sick, and which is sick?"

Sango sighed, "I don't know…"

"I hope which ever one is sick gets well soon!" Shippo gulped, shivering in some profound discomfort that set alarms off inside Miroku's skull.

"What do you mean, Shippo?"

"I mean if one of them gets really sick and…" his words faded, but the insinuation was clear nonetheless, "They could both…"

Monk and slayer looked in horrified astonishment at one another. The link, if it was strong enough, might drag a healthy demon into death with a sickened, ailing partner. Both could be lost, just as both could be sick. Both of them realized with a jolt how little they knew of the link, and they regretted that they hadn't studied the matter more…a light dawned in both Shard-hunters' eyes at the same moment.

"I could go to the temple's archives…" Miroku murmured, still staring into the demon slayer's eyes in astonishment.

Sango was nodding eagerly, "And you could study youkai links!" she finished for him, a small smile beginning over her lips.

Under the table then she felt a warm hand brush over hers. Miroku's face beamed in a smile, "You could…come with me…"

On the table Shippo rolled his eyes disgustedly and started preening himself, picking and licking the pieces of extra food that were stuck on his face, in his clothes, in his fur. _It's a wonder those two aren't the ones with some kind of link!_

* * *

**Chikara's Tears**

_After many long years Inudoushi grew accustomed to Chikara's presence. She was like his shadow, trailing just behind him. He watched over her in the dark nights, killed the beasts that sought her for her luscious beauty, but never touched her himself. Chikara, meanwhile, served him with her powerful soul, destroying the things that were unafraid of Inudoushi's simple strength. She comforted his soul and body, bandaging his battle wounds, acting as a personal healer._

_Through the years they focused only on tracking their enemy: the evil Naraku. They spoke only of finding some sign or rumor of him, some secret weakness that the evil demon had concealed from the rest of the world. Many times they drew near enough to Naraku and injured him, but it was still not quite enough. Inudoushi and Chikara needed to become one creature—a thing of two bodies and two strengths, but one soul and one mind—before defeating Naraku could be possible._

_Of course they didn't know this at the time, though it was their Fate nonetheless, and it began one early summer night._

_Inudoushi left Chikara to hunt in the wilds as he frequently did—but while he was away the rains came, heavy and dark. The skies thundered; lightening rent the air. Chikara's heart cried out to Inudoushi with worry, but she could do nothing but wait and pray he had made it through the ravenous storm._

_Three days later the tempest ended, and just after nightfall Inudoushi returned. He was hungry and wet and angry, so when he saw Chikara he wanted nothing but rest and quiet from her. He found her crying loudly instead._

_"Why do you waste your tears, human wench? Stop that nonsense now!" he ordered._

_Chikara tried to do as he commanded, but the tears flowed on unrestrainedly. When Inudoushi demanded why she cried a second time, the truth burst out of Chikara. She said to him, "I feared for your life because I have fallen in love with you."_

_Inudoushi was stunned, and he found he could not answer her. Chikara's tears went on when the demon remained silent._

_She feared that he would never love her and that she was destined to die without him, alone…_

* * *

Endnotes: These gotta be quick cuz this is already too long...MANY big thanks to all those who took the time to read and review! I'm really happy with this story's "come back." YAYS! I thought it would die for a while, but I'm glad to be able to come back and announce I was wrong...THANK YOU: **_slummyreddragon, freelke, NefCanuck, toxiclollipop, Okazin, Tiamath_**(The realization in my summary...is complicated. Saishi shall bring in a new idea or two that I think will surprise everyone but there will be twists and new epiphanies coming from the original realization...I hope to surprise everyone...(big grins!))**_, Yami Chikara, Inuphoenix, Fantasy Freak_**(I went looking for the one you suggested and got hooked on another silly little ditty called "Mind reader." I'll look again soon...what's it about?) Preview: 

_"You know what is preventing her from going through the well? What's stopping the well's magic?" Sango breathed, her brown eyes wide in shock. _

_Slowly Saishi nodded. "It has been revealed to me." his eyes fell on Kagome, who was staring at the floor, withdrawing from the conversation that openly discussed her fate. "Kagome is unable to pass through time because...(I'm not going to give you guys the answer in the preview!)...has clotted the well's magic." _

_There was a stunned, confused silence until Inuyasha reacted as was typical, "Bullshit!" _

Until next time...don't forget to drop me a line if you should have the time...thank you everyone!


	10. Saishi 1

**Disclaimer:** You heard it all before...

**A/N:** I'm feeling pretty blue at the moment...I graduate this Sunday. Usually all of the seniors get their own solo in my choir thing. But this year the director is playing BIG favorites with three girls...no one got anything but them. I asked to be included becuase even though those girls are his favorites, I'm the ONLY one that's spent four years (more if you count middle school) continuously serving the group. But is my loyalty remembered? Not a chance in hell...sorry, I'm really angry and upset right now. He gave me a duet with one of them but then she got angry, threw a temper tantrum, and so the director pulled me again...FOUR years of service and you know what? I've never ONCE had a single solo, he always gives it to one of those girls or a different favorite. It's just disgusting, but I've never complained, never tried to point that out, never fought him, and never given him attitude...and this is the reward I get. I'm so sick I thinkI could vomit, but all I do instead is just cry my eyes out.Anyway...I'm trying to make myself feel better so I'm posting...

Firstpart is again Mrs. H's reading. Next part feeds someanswers from the great andpowerful monk Saishi. (just so you all know, the only thing that's made me feel really GREAT since the stupid choir business has been areviewer actually,who REALLYpraised me. Even though I was crying I started smiling, grinning actually when I read it...even though this reviewer read and reviewed _WOAWO_ and not this story, I'm going to thank them here: kareemachan THANK YOU! You have NO idea how badly I needed that smile!) anyway...enjoy all!

**

* * *

**

**Saishi**

* * *

**_Inudoushi and the Shikon Jewel_**

_The battle for the destruction of Naraku drew nearer with each day, yet Inudoushi remained silent as the weeks passed, refusing to think, let alone speak to the human woman who had professed to loving him. Demons are creatures of war and bloodshed; they live long lives filled with it. A human woman was no wife, no mate, for a creature such as Inudoushi. As a mortal, Chikara would die many years before his time on the earth ended, and their offspring would be scorned and outcast. He refused to consider her words, refused to let them touch his own emotions._

_Despite her distress at having professed such emotions and being ignored by her companion, Chikara persisted at his side, though now she burned cold as the blizzards in winter. She hid her heart, struggled to look upon the dog demon she traveled beside with no emotion at all._

_The fall came. Red leaves dripped from the maples, like blood from a wound. Naraku massacred the people, haunted the honor of the demons that wished for his death. He was a monster of incomprehensible strength—when injured, even torn to shreds by his enemies, he could feign death only to resurrect himself into a whole being moments later. This power was supplied and amplified by Naraku's secret weapon: the Shkion Jewel. Even when he was too weak to survive the Jewel was able to boost his strength and return him to normal. It was in this way that Naraku easily survived the many attempts on his life…and there was only one being capable of stopping him: Chikara._

_Inudoushi and Chikara caught up with Naraku, defeated or dismissed the demons that he kept in his service, and began the Final Battle. It was no easy task: a day and a night passed before at last Naraku's secret was exposed. It was only with Chikara's great spiritual strength that the Shikon Jewel was exposed and retrieved. Inudoushi immediately possessed the gem, hoping to deal the final blow to Naraku with the aide of the Jewel's strength._

_But Chikara had been unable to purify the Shikon Jewel before Inudoushi took control of it. Without her purity the Jewel was tainted and full of Naraku's evil malice. That destructive aura aided Inudoushi's strength, but destroyed his soul. The dog demon went on a rampage, searching for the fleeing Naraku. He attacked those that were innocent; he wielded his power like a young child plays with a weapon._

_Frightened and sick at heart, Chikara pursued the dog demon she loved, and with every last ounce of her soul, she cleansed Inudoushi and the Shikon Jewel. She slipped into Death's grip, weary and heartbroken, but fulfilled that she had saved the demon she had loved, and so enabled him to have the strength and the sanity to destroy Naraku on his own…_

_But when sanity returned to Inudoushi, he saw the human woman that he had refused to love, refused to think of as anything more than a weaker, mortal companion, crumpled at his feet. A pain unlike any other he had ever known entered his heart, as he realized that she had sacrificed her entire heart and soul for him._

_A fierce love for the dead mortal woman filled him, and Inudoushi wept at her loss, prayed in desperation that she would return to him from the Land of the Dead…_

* * *

Late in the evening the summons came. With the sun having vanished, the skies had darkened, and none of the Shard-hunters thought they would be called upon so late in the day…of course they were wrong. Takoto himself stopped by at both rooms—though in the women's quarters he found only Kagome asleep with Kilala—to give them the summons. After Kagome had been roused, and Inuyasha driven out of the gardens he was sulking in, the Shard-hunters walked quietly behind Takoto, through twisting paths surrounded by tall maples and bordered by little blue flowers, dipping in the night's gentle spring breeze. 

Miroku led the procession. Following just behind Takoto, chatting quietly in an amiable tone. Sango, holding Kilala in her arms, listened as she trailed closely behind the two houshis. Kagome sheltered Shippo from any of Inuyasha's lingering wrath on her shoulder while she trudged just after the demon slayer. Inuyasha was the last in the line, his face stern and somber as he took in the sights and scents and the tranquility of the temple and its gardens.

Inside him his link with Kagome buzzed—her fatigue reached out to him, weakened his own limbs, and weighted his eyelids. As the schoolgirl started to fall behind the procession further he stole up behind her calmly, touched her elbows with the palms of his hands, lending her a silent strength with his touch. The tiny contact between them sent his senses tingling: his ears flicked and swiveled, the golden eyes blazed from within.

Tiredly—but with surprising alertness—Kagome glanced over her shoulder at him. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Inuyasha…?"

He gave her a little push forward, murmuring, "You have to keep up, we're losing them." Sango's green and purple skirts could easily be seen up the path some fifteen feet, fading. They were climbing uphill, taking tiny sets of stairs every so often. Sango and the others scaled those little obstacles with ease, but Kagome's head was beginning to sink lower and lower with her fatigue.

"I know, I'm sorry Inuyasha, I'm slowing you down." She sighed, heavily. "You should move in front of me." she started to shift, stepping off the path a little to slide behind him.

The hanyou's clawed hands grasped her quickly, stopped her progress. When she looked from his hands to his face she blinked in confusion. "Get on my back and I'll carry you."

"You don't have to Inuyasha…" she began, hesitantly, her gaze drifting away cautiously.

Inuyasha realized with a jolt that she knew with the help of the link, that he was feeling under the weather too, and she feared straining him. _She senses the link? She utilizes it…?_ He hadn't known that Kagome understood its presence. She'd seemingly ignored most of the thoughts that had passed from his mind to hers; with the exception of the things he hadn't said aloud to her on the night of their exchanged apologies.

He tightened his grip on her forearms, pushed his determination to keep her under his eye, carefully protected, through their link and into her mind. He didn't miss the way her eyes widened, the way her gaze warmed as she beheld him—her silent gratitude. _She **does** feel it_…

"Get on Kagome." He instructed, his voice gruff once again. He knelt a little, making her task easier, and took hold of her legs when she obeyed. The pressure and warmth of her arms wrapped over his neck made him shiver internally. Forcing away his fatigue and slight dizziness, Inuyasha leapt forward, easily closing the accumulated distance between Sango's skirted backsides and themselves.

The group reached the shrine building at the top of the steep hill—the crux of the temple's grounds. It was in that majestic; almost castle like structure that Saishi presided when others needed to consult with him. Takoto led them up the small steps to the verandah with its almost burgundy-colored floorboards where all but Inuyasha discarded shoes of some type: sandals for the most part, excluding Kagome's bulky brown leather monstrosities. Inuyasha smirked looking down the long line of shoes: simple sandals all of them, in various states of wear and in multiple sizes, and then there were Kagome's shoes, so clearly out of place.

Takoto noted the shoes as well, blinking while he waited for Miroku and Sango to finish. If he had doubted Kagome's story about coming from the future, it seemed he couldn't deny it now. None of them had seen Kagome's strange clothing or footwear before. Her strangeness lent immediate credibility to their story…Inuyasha only hoped that Saishi would see those things as well.

A few moments later Takoto led them into a large hall, where the burgundy coloring of the wood used in this temple building became overwhelmingly apparent. The beams were burgundy, the walls were, the floorboards too. Occasionally a tapestry-like weaving shimmered on the wall, seemingly woven of silk. They seemed to depict famous battles, histories, and legends. Demons and heroes alike littered the scenes, horses kicking up dust bearing heavily armored warriors and lords on their proud backs, evil creatures being slaughtered by righteous leaders, pretty women in unbelievably gorgeous robes basked in warm sunlight underneath cherry blossoms that fell like rain.

Despite the beauty of the place, Inuyasha felt distinctly uncomfortable. His ears fell backward and his lips tightened, turning into one thin white line. _This is a place of humans; of human greatness_…it left no place for him, left no room for the demons, whether they were monsters or brave warriors.

They reached the end of the hall where Inuyasha turned his eyes on a surprisingly youthful man who appeared to be possessed of a very pleasant disposition—he smiled at his guests and dipped his head when they bowed, returning their respect with some of his own—was it Saishi? Takoto lead the others to bow before the man that Inuyasha assumed was Saishi on his cushiony seat, adorned in white and cream robes. The Shard-hunters sat in a sort of migrating-geese formation: a V shape. Miroku and Sango sat side by side but with about five feet between them, Kilala in the slayer's lap, Shippo in Miroku's. Kagome took a position behind Sango…and Inuyasha reluctantly took the spot behind Miroku.

"My lord," Takoto was saying, quietly, gesturing to the Shard-hunters, "As you requested, I have brought them: houshi Miroku, kitsune youkai Shippo, demon slayer Sango and her cat demon Kilala, the miko Kagome Higurashi, and the hanyou Inuyasha." As their name was said each bowed—with the exception of Inuyasha, who merely inclined his head once, ears turned backward. Saishi gazed at each of them benignly, as if not really seeing them at all. His hair was thin—apparently growing back from its last complete shaving, it was streaked clearly by gray at the temples.

"Welcome!" Saishi spoke for the first time, lifting both hands up, palms outward, facing his audience. He bowed rather deeply, a serene smile adorning his face like a decoration. "I have heard many things of this group!" he grinned unabashedly then, and looked toward Takoto. "Please, Takoto, would you fetch us some tea. I sense troubled souls in this room, it might bring relief."

The youthful monk bowed, "Yes Great Master Saishi." He turned on his heel and tread softly away over the burgundy floorboards.

As Takoto's footsteps vanished Saishi's eyes—a dark brown so deep that it easily looked an eerie black—roved over the group, one at a time. His eyes lingered in particularly on Kagome, who, intimidated, flushed and glanced at the floor. Inuyasha restrained the foolish instinct to growl at the lead monk.

The silence dragged on until Saishi smiled at them nodding a little, "I would not normally have summoned you here so shortly after your arrival." He cleared his throat; "Normally a conference with me is something the greatest lords make _appointments_ with me for. You I have allowed to come unannounced, without appointment at all, because I _knew_ you would be coming…"

His words caught all of their attentions. All gazes lingered on him in bewilderment. Saishi smiled a little wider, apparently enjoying their shock. "Do not look so stunned, friends. I am a monk of a different kind…" his smile took on a teasing glint, directed at Miroku, who seemed to stiffen slightly under it, "Unlike the normal houshi I was gifted with insight no other has thus far had. I can see the future in my dreams and during my meditations. It was in such a dream that it was revealed to me that you would be coming…" the smile grew again, "And your problems," he glanced quickly, and meaningfully at each member of the Shard-hunters, "Were also revealed."

In his pause Sango abruptly raised her voice, querying, "So…you know of the Bone Eater's Well?"

Saishi nodded, suddenly solemn. "I do."

When the monk failed to speak any further the Shard-hunters fidgeted nervously. Finally Shippo lost his patience, "Well! What's keeping Kagome from going home through it?"

Saishi pursed his lips; his gaze left them all, dropping to his clasped hands in his lap. "The magic of this well is precarious—it isn't a thing that a miko or a houshi can summon or control. Just as Lady Kagome is unable to pass through it, so are a monk's powers also rendered useless against what stops the well's magic."

Kagome was suddenly shaking. "I can't…go home?" she whispered, her voice shaking.

Inuyasha cringed beside her, turned his golden eyes to stare at her for a moment with concern before he became aware that Saishi was watching him keenly. Irritated he glared at the monk, scowling. _I don't like you_…Saishi looked away, his face emotionless.

"You cannot. The magic that allowed you to pass through time when you entered the well has been disrupted."

There was hope in Miroku's voice when he spoke up, "Great Master, does that mean that if we discover what this barrier is and lift it, Kagome could go home again?"

Saishi's lips tightened into a white line, "Yes—but it shall be difficult. Likely impossible. The barrier that you face is an unknown one…"

"Damn it! Do you think that that's going to stop us, old man?" Inuyasha suddenly burst out, unable to control himself any longer.

Saishi remained cool and unruffled. His expression was devoid of irritation, despite Inuyasha's clear disrespect. "I cannot yet say. But I do know that you, nor I for that matter, yet understands the barrier…"

"You know what is preventing her from going through the well? What's stopping the well's magic?" Sango breathed, her brown eyes wide in shock.

Slowly Saishi nodded. "It has been revealed to me." his eyes fell on Kagome, who was staring at the floor, withdrawing from the conversation that openly discussed her fate. "Kagome is unable to pass through time because time itself has clotted the well's magic."

There was a stunned, confused silence until Inuyasha reacted as was typical, "Bullshit!"

"Inuyasha…" Miroku's voice was stern, low—a warning. The hentai's respect for Saishi was clear. "Saishi-sama," he bowed, as if trying to make up for Inuyasha's brazen, wild disrespect. "How can time close off the well? And why?"

Saishi's gaze was still pinned on Kagome's shuddering form. "The miko knows."

Sango turned and moved to kneel alongside Kagome, wrapping her arms about the schoolgirl, supporting her. "What does he mean, Kagome?" she asked, quietly.

Kagome drew a shaky breath, "I think he's talking about the time traveling theories." She ground her teeth, wondering how to explain it to them. "People in my century have two ideas about time and time travel: one of them says that it can be changed, though rewriting time could destroy the whole universe, the other says that no matter what a person does time is fixed, it's unchangeable." When she looked up she saw blank, uncomprehending stares all around, except from Saishi who was merely listening, though understanding glinted in his black gaze.

She shook her head, frustrated, weak. Her eyes landed on Miroku's compassionate face and stuck there, "Miroku—what if you could go through the well to travel 50 years ago and stop your grandfather from being cursed with the wind tunnel in his right palm?"

The monk smirked briefly, shook his head with a shrug, "I would be most content I suppose."

"No, you wouldn't be. Think about it—if you changed time, made it so the wind tunnel, your reason for going back in the first place ceased to exist…you wouldn't have a reason to go back, so how could you have changed it? A paradox." she shivered, suddenly afraid of what she was saying, remembering the American movies that had been the prime examples for these theories: Back To The Future and the Terminator. She'd seen them both, but at the moment what gave her the willies was the memory of Michael J. Fox's image fading away into nothing as he faded out of existence…she stared down at her hands, suddenly squeezing them into tight fists as her stomach rippled unpleasantly, cramping up. _What if something like that happens to me? This isn't my time, I don't belong here…what if time decides to delete me too?_

Miroku was frowning, one hand on his chin, touching it reverently in deep thought. "I think I understand…"

Saishi's voice broke in then, "Yes—in this case Time has moved to set in motion some chain of events that must be fulfilled if Lady Kagome is to go home."

The Shard-hunters looked at him in shock and confusion. Shippo was the first to speak, "Chain of events?" he echoed.

"Yes, until it is fulfilled—whatever event it is—the well will never open for Lady Kagome."

"But why should it trap me _here!"_ Kagome yelled, tears springing to her eyes, "I wasn't born here! This _isn't_ where I belong!"

She didn't notice Inuyasha's silent grimace, the way he quickly turned his face away, forced his ears to remain erect and unaffected.

Saishi threw her a calculated glance, fixing her sternly with it, like a butterfly under a pin. "It isn't?" he asked, quietly.

Kagome was abruptly unsure, her words were stuttered, "No—I mean…how _could_ it be?"

Saishi inclined his head in her direction. "I shall have to debate on this question overnight, milady." He smiled lightly at each of them his eyes flew up to the doorway as Takoto came in, carrying a delicate tray of silver full of steaming tea. "Ah! Takoto has finally come!"

As Takoto set the tea carefully between Saishi's uplifted seat and the audience of Shard-hunters below, Saishi cleared his throat. "Enjoy your tea here, if you wish, but I must part with all of you for now—but I will have more to discuss with you."

A few surprised glances rose to meet his black eyes as Saishi rose with a bow to them. "I shall summon you when I have been enlightened on Lady Kagome's question. I bid you goodnight."

On soundless feet the great monk turned and walked toward a sliding door a short distance away and disappeared within it, leaving the stunned, witless Shard-hunters in a heavy silence.

* * *

The monks chanted as they walked through the courtyard, their sandals crunched gravel beneath their feet. Inuyasha sat at the doorway to what served as the "men's quarters," his thoughts heavy. His eyes were closed, listening to the passing monks' chants, like a quiet, whispered song. If he had been human perhaps he might've liked to call himself one of them, he couldn't deny their quiet beauty. The chants like a song, the trees and the paths through the groves of mountain forests, the stunning architecture of the temple. He admired all of it—unlike many other humans he sensed that these monks lived honestly, without any sick political games amongst themselves. It was from among such people that Miroku had sprung…and though lecherous, there was something to say for the monk—he was open about it, he didn't lie to women, any one of them could tell immediately what his nature was…the monks didn't hide anything… 

He scowled and blinked through the limp-lit darkness._ But I am no monk…I keep far too many secrets, and I am a warrior, there is nothing spiritual about me. Humans believe in souls, demons do not._ He couldn't understand why such thoughts didn't please him in the least. _Bury your weak musings, hanyou. Accept that you will never touch such simple honesty, such sincerity._ That thought spoke with his brother's voice, and Inuyasha couldn't restrain the shudder that issued through his body at it.

_Kagome_. His mind dove into hers through the link, feeling her fatigue, her vague fears, her confusion. His own mind was almost like a mirror of hers…except that he noted another thought flitting through her, resurfacing time and time again.

His golden eyes widened as he stared, seemingly without seeing the monks passing, across the courtyard. Kagome's mind was suddenly abuzz with fleeting thoughts, conflicting emotions, and longing…all of it directed clearly at him. _She's talking to Sango about me_…he realized, his clawed hands breaking out into a sweat. Without realizing it he pursed his lips, biting down on them tightly. His fangs bit into the corners of his mouth. Her thoughts and her words with Sango echoed inside her, through the link, straight to him…

* * *

"It's good to see you eating, Kagome, I've been really worried." 

The schoolgirl nodded, still chewing her food. When she'd swallowed she spoke, "I feel a little better…" _I hope that it stays that way_…the image of Michael J. Fox vanishing still stole her breath away, made her freeze with fear.

"I never really understood what Saishi was saying about time, or what you tried to explain with Miroku and the wind tunnel…" Sango scowled, apparently wishing to have Kagome explain it to her, but the schoolgirl's stomach clenched up and she glanced up from the noodles around her chopsticks, her appetite dying.

"I…uh…don't want to explain it, Sango. I don't feel up to it."

The demon slayer nodded, her brown eyes still full of lingering worry. "I understand—never mind." She waved a hand, as if swatting the topic away. "At any rate I wanted to tell you something else."

Sango's tone clued Kagome into the as yet unspoken name of the aforementioned topic: "Something about Inuyasha?" she kept her eyes directed at her chopsticks, willing herself to lift the noodles into her mouth.

"Yes…" Sango looked left and right, about the room that was empty. Other than Kagome, Sango, and Kilala sleeping on her master's lap, they were alone. Even so, Sango was fully aware of how sneaky Inuyasha could be. Gifted with a youkai's senses he could spring atop the roof of their room and still be able to hear their every word. She hesitated before she ventured to speak, wondering if she should risk speaking aloud of her concerns…

Such a thing, as it turned out, wasn't needed. Kagome could already see the slayer's nervousness, and she broached the subject for her friend easily, "Inuyasha isn't within earshot of us." She hardly allowed herself to consider how she so readily knew this, how easy it was for her to slip in and out of the hanyou's mind through their bizarre but powerful link.

Sango's gaze was heavy with a hidden meaning, "You can tell through that link you and he share?" Kagome nodded, though it was with caution, even reluctance. The demon slayer jumped ahead, plunging headlong into her subject to leave Kagome's uncertainty behind. "Anyway…did you know Inuyasha is sick like you are too?"

Kagome avoided her friend's eyes. "I knew."

Sango leaned forward, urgently, "Didn't it seem _odd_ to you, Kagome?"

The schoolgirl shrugged, "I haven't given it much thought. I think he's just feeling what I feel through the link…"

Sango pulled back, as if Kagome had stricken her, she chewed on her lips for a moment, thoughtfully. Her mind was troubled by Kagome's words, but she pushed the worry aside, praying that it meant nothing. Instead of linger on it she asked: "So…what did Inuyasha say that night a week or two ago when you stormed off? You know, when he called you a—"

Kagome's answer this time was swift, irritated, "I _know_ what he called me, Sango." She grumbled, still toying with the noodles on her plate.

Delicately, Sango skirted around her mistake, "Well, what did he say?" once more the slayer was leaning forward, eagerly straining to catch Kagome's words and her tone, anything and everything her friend had to communicate on the possible romance.

"He apologized." She managed to lift a few of the noodles to her lips, shoved them in. her chopsticks dipped back to the plate for more hesitantly.

"That was _it?"_ Sango's frank disbelief was loud and bordering on obnoxious, Kagome cringed at it. "That…_jerk!"_ she shook her head. Sango's fists on either side of her ignored plate clenched up into fists. "That _liar!"_

Kagome scowled, confused. "Liar?" she blinked, "You think that Inuyasha wasn't sorry…?"

Sango averted her eyes; her fingers began to fiddle aimlessly with items about the table. "Well…no…"

"Then what?"

Pursing her lips, Sango looked up at the schoolgirl, sighed. "Didn't you ever think that the link was formed for a reason? Doesn't the fact that Inuyasha was the one who had to start it mean _anything_ to you?"

Now it was Kagome's turn to avert not just her eyes, but also her whole face. She turned it down at the table, pretended that the noodles and her chopsticks absorbed all of her concentration, leaving none left over for serious thought on Sango's question. "I guess…"

Sango was stupefied. "What kind of answer is that! Kagome…remember that I told you Miroku talked to him and Inuyasha said he loved you…?"

Kagome's face burned, she pursed her lips. Inside her mind she could feel Inuyasha's consciousness, swimming inside her own, making up some other half of her. She knew dimly that he was hearing these things—he was keen on being involved with them. His curiosity unnerved her: was he mocking her? That night he had so passionately thought to himself of his love for her—but acted as if he cared little at all when she tried to be near him. The frustration burned inside her, like a hot coil wound up tight. _If he loves me, why does he push me away like he does? Why is it that he denies there is anything between us…?_ She remembered earlier that day, at the gates, Inuyasha's obstinacy: _'We're not mates.'_ He'd said. Was he ashamed of that thought? Was she not good enough for him?

Oblivious, Sango continued onward, "Well, I think that this proves that. Inuyasha _does_ love you, maybe just as much as _you _love _him_. Maybe he's just being shy—I mean he's no hentai like Miroku…" the demon slayer scowled at her own words, and then grew wistful at them, her face seemed filled almost with something like longing. Almost to herself she whispered the last of it, "Maybe, you just have to encourage him a little…"

That made Kagome's head snap up, her eyes narrowed slightly in irritation and frustration. "Sango—maybe he does love me but I've _tried_ to be close to him and he pulls away. He won't let me do anything. Everything has to be on his terms, his game." She sighed tiredly, dropped her chopsticks and started rubbing her eyes. "I'm going to bed, Sango." Before Sango could object Kagome sprung into action. She rose from the table and walked to the futons on the other side of the room where she swiftly covered herself up. Sleep came fast, just after she forced Inuyasha's curious mind from her own, then the darkness closed over her, oblivion accepted her with welcome arms…

* * *

Endnote: BIG thank you to my reviewers! This story is still getting pretty well reviewed, considering that _WOAWO_ is by far the more popular and _Women In Black _hardly gets anything yet, but that's becuase it's just starting out (I hope!) But I am MOST thankful to all of you who are loyal to me and encourage me on no matter what I'm doing...THANK YOU! 

And now without further ado..._**Tiamath**_ (hehe...(snickers) I didn't mean for it to be like morning sickness, Kagome and Inuyasha aren't 'involved' like that at all...yet...at least. Dizziness, nausea, fatigue, depression...they all sorta tend to float together. Now, when I say her breasts are tender then we'll all know where it's going and why...(snickers again) but nonetheless a very good observation, again it's one I hadn't realized I was making it sound like...thank you!) _**Yami Chikara **_(nasty? How so? You mean that I 'bleeped' out the answer...? (snickers evilly) I had to! I wanted to make sure you came to read! Hehe...) _**toxiclollipop**_ (no, on the contrary, it makes perfect sense to me! You nailed that one right on the nose!) _**freelke**_ (me too! I hated leaving it on hiatus for a while...I think it's the tension that keeps me fixated on this story, time and time again...(snickers)) _**slummyreddragon**_, _**UnseenViolet**_ (are you new here? If so, welcome!) _**Inuadmirer**_ (thank you! Just as I said at the beginning of this post, you guys have no idea how much your reviews DO matter to me, they're like candy treats that I'll do anything for...(grins) I'm like a review-addict! You can't ever give me enough!) _**NefCanuck **_(Thank you! You've been there to review just about every story I write, every chapter. THANK YOU! (bows) I owe youa debt for such loyalty! Hey, someday you wanna be the one to name a character for me? Just a thought...Big thanks again tho!) _**Hikaru1617**_ (I knew I recognized this name! Got anything you want to to read for you that you've written? (winks)) Well, here'sthe preview:

_"Yes," Saishi was serious abruptly, making Inuyasha pay special attention now, "You'll protect her from other potential husbands and mates of all shapes, virtues, characters, and races. She will die alone." The black eyes were cold as steel, they tore at Inuyasha like a blade, and suddenly the hanyou felt his own eyes smart, ready to overflow, to his shame, with tears sprung from some terrible inner turmoil he hardly understood himself…_

That one might not make sense out of context from next chapte,r but it just stuck out at me...think about it...if Inuyasha never owns up to his feelings...this would/will be very accurate...anyway until next time...THANK YOU EVERYONE!


	11. Saishi 2

**Disclaimer:** Nope I don't own inuyasha or any of his buddies

**A/N:** I would've had this up sooner but FFnet was doin it's tweak out thing...I hope it doesn't eat this when i try to submit it...(shifty eyes)...this is the second installation of the Saishi visitations...and some of the last of Mrs. H's readings. To those of you who were carefully noting those interludes of story...everything is going to be okay...(nods) you'll like (I think) this one's installation...also I paint the way Inuyasha would go on treating her forever and ever b/c he's like a stubborn dog, thank you Saishi, and you know what? It's a little scary...if he never came around it's be mucho sad...anyway, and then another link realization...or two, or more...next chapter there's another one of those...or two or more...I've lost track...anyway...go on, read, review and enjoy (unless it eats this...) YAYS!

**

* * *

**

**Saishi Part 2**

Inuyasha woke with a jolt, thrashing out one powerful arm to grab hold of the vague shadowy form that had intruded on his sleep. He hadn't realized that he'd been so deeply asleep, hadn't wanted to be that way—one moment he'd been sifting through Kagome's thoughts, feelings, and then her dreams…and then her sleep must've invaded his mind through the link too. Now it was long after midnight—nearly dawn his inner clock immediately told him—he'd slept the whole night away deeply imbedded within Kagome's mind, seeing, sharing her dreams…

A scent assaulted him; he recognized it as Miroku's swiftly. His fist caught hold of fabric, tightened, and pulled the offender closer to him. Golden eyes blinked sleepily. "Monk?" he rasped, his voice thick with sleep still so close by.

"Inuyasha." Miroku moved against his grip, trying to disengage his clawed fingers from his robes, "The Great Master has sent for you…" even through his sleep-induced dullness Inuyasha picked out the clear disapproval in the monk's tone. _Damn straight Miroku—I don't approve of being summoned by him at any time, but not especially this early._

"Tell him to piss up a tree…" he muttered, ears flickering through the dark, little white objects shifting as if nervous or confused.

_"You_ can do that, Inuyasha." Miroku grumbled, thoroughly displeased. He tore Inuyasha's grip away and moved back toward the faint light of the door. Shadows of gray and blue leaked in from the outside world. A man's form whispered to Miroku from just outside the room.

The floorboards squeaked as Inuyasha rose from the far corner where he'd passed out and shouldered Miroku away from the small shadow of the messenger monk. "Why the hell is he calling me this early?"

The shadowy monk bowed low, "Great Master Saishi summons those whose problems have been revealed to him in his dreams as soon as the answer has come. It is only in that way that he can relate in most accuracy those sought-after answers…"

Inuyasha growled once but relented. "Fine—lead me." he stepped out into the courtyard as the short monk led the hanyou away swiftly, his sandaled feet slapping the soles of his feet.

It wasn't long before he found himself in the burgundy-colored hall again, bowing reluctantly before Saishi again. Unlike Inuyasha, Saishi looked fully refreshed, as if the monk had never suffered a bad hair day or a sleepless night even once in his life. Inuyasha hated him silently, wishing him nothing but a curse bitterly.

This time there was no pause before Saishi ventured into his speech, "Inuyasha," he nodded his head, offering the hanyou respect and acknowledgement, "I know that you do not like me…"

The hanyou blinked, "I uh…"

Saishi raised one hand, smiling gently, "It is fine. It matters not." He lowered the hand and now gazed with his deep, dark eyes, at Inuyasha, pinning him to the spot, as if with a knife. "I needed to begin with you because there is much to say and my peers are nervous about your presence here. They fear your temper, they fear for our temple, our home. But I know better than they do—as long no one threatens your woman, Lady Kagome, you will be at peace and utterly harmless."

There were too many things for Inuyasha to respond easily to Saishi's words. His mouth hung open in the air, gaping stupidly. Finally he latched onto the one that stuck out at him the most: "Kagome is _not_ my woman!"

Saishi's head tipped to one side, comically, "Oh? She's not?" he asked, his voice gently mocking.

The hanyou scowled at Saishi's accurate although silent accusation. Yes, Inuyasha was denying what in his heart he wanted more than almost anything else—save the destruction of Naraku perhaps—but he was doing it for her own good! "Yea—_damn it_!—she's _not_ my woman. She's just our Shard detector."

Saishi's face appeared to be open, listening, but his eyes gleamed with amusement, "Yes, a Shard detector…and your _bitch_."

Inuyasha narrowed his golden eyes at the monk, silently wishing this were a battle of swords, not words. He was wide-awake now. Saishi's emphasis on the term "bitch" left Inuyasha no room for denial—the monk understood demon customs, he understood Inuyasha's secret longing, quiet but fierce, protective desire…he had, in essence, let the "dog" out of the bag.

"So what!" he huffed, unable to properly defend himself, "Feh! What's that got to do with anything, old man?"

Saishi smiled knowingly now, "It's got to do with a lot I suspect…"

Inuyasha snarled furiously at the smug, confident monk, "It's no one's damn business—that's what it is!" his fists were clenched up into knots of outrage, the claws biting into the skin of his palms.

"May I ask a question of you, Inuyasha?" Saishi went on, ignoring the hanyou's outburst as well as his anger.

"Go ahead you bastard, I know I don't got a choice." He growled, amber eyes flashing with restrained anger, silent threats of murder.

Even more to Inuyasha's fury, Saishi was able to smile with amusement at the hanyou's name calling. He seemed to be taking great pleasure in torturing Inuyasha. "Tell me," he began, unable to control the smirking smile and the hints of laughter in his voice and face, "Why do you deny your feelings for your 'Shard detector'? All those around you can sense it, and there are none that would or even could dare to stop you. What holds you back?"

The hanyou averted the monk's eyes, fighting the feverish chills and heat that swarmed all over him. His ears turned backward, a scowl was born over his face. "I don't have to explain myself to you, damn it!"

"No, you do not." Saishi agreed, and when Inuyasha snuck a fast glance at the monk he saw that the man was still smirking, still taking great pleasure in what was being exchanged between them, "But you _should_ explain yourself to _her."_

Amber eyes snapped up and narrowed dangerously at the monk. "I'll protect her forever—that's enough." He defended, his voice low and thick. Though he tried to cover it Inuyasha was filled with emotion, he cursed it all, tried to push it away, tried to deny it…his stomach did angry flip-flops and the hanyou swallowed nervously, afraid he might be sick all over the burgundy floor. _Green stomach acids all over the red wood. That'd get this old bastard pissed_…he smirked; now hoping that he really would get sick.

"Yes," Saishi was serious abruptly, making Inuyasha pay special attention now, "You'll protect her from other potential husbands and mates of all shapes, virtues, characters, and races. She will die alone." The black eyes were cold as steel, they tore at Inuyasha like a blade, and suddenly the hanyou felt his own eyes smart, ready to overflow, to his shame, with tears sprung from some terrible inner turmoil he hardly understood himself…

Still, despite Inuyasha's grief and distress, Saishi's tortuous—but utterly truthful—words droned onward. The black gaze was heavy and unrelenting, "She will grow old and bitter and childless. Every male—man or demon—that so much as looks at her will have your sword rammed through his throat, and yet you would go through life beside her without ever _really_ being with her at all. You would have her die of longing for you, and suffer through her unfulfilled desires…perhaps she will be so tortured that she would end her own life when she understands that you won't give yourself up to her, and you won't allow anyone else to come after her. You would condemn her to a prison of loneliness, you would—"

"Shut up!" Inuyasha screamed, his eyes squeezed tightly shut, "None of that's true! And why the hell are you wasting my time here with this…this…" his clawed hands shook when he tried to gesture so the hanyou thought quickly and shoved them into his sleeves, trying to appear as if he were composing himself carefully, not trying to hide his emotional reaction to the monk's horrible words.

Saishi's eyes seemed more fatigued now almost saddened. "Inuyasha," he began, sighing lightly, "It has been revealed to me, in my dreams and through meditation, that you and the miko are bound to one another." He leaned forward slightly, "I know of the link that you share with her."

Inuyasha blinked, debating whether or not he should deny the monk's words and walk out on him right then. But despite himself Saishi's words held an irrefutable control over him, a fascination. _Bound to one another…?_

"I know that you were raised by your mortal mother," Inuyasha stiffened at that, glaring once more at Saishi, "So you know nothing of the courting habits of dog demons. Would you like me to reveal a little of what I know?" the teasing gleam had once more appeared in the black eyes.

"Do I have a choice?" muttered the hanyou reluctantly, though his ears remained forward facing. He was _listening_.

"They protect, first and foremost, all things and individuals that they respect or care the slightest about. They are loyal, stubbornly so, and continuously seeking a reassuring close proximity to family and friends…"

Inuyasha scowled, "That's nothing like me!"

Saishi tilted his head a little to the left, the smirk in his face and eyes clearly visible, unabashedly exposed to the hanyou. "Really? But Takoto and Ishiro told me that at the gates you growled when Takoto looked a little too long at your miko. And I also know that during your stay with us you have wandered the grounds restlessly—but always within sight distance of your companions' lodging places. Care to explain?"

"Piss off!" the amber orbs flared, willing Saishi to drop dead where he sat.

The monk had the audacity to laugh at the half-demon. "In that case, would you like to know about how a dog demon, or a half dog demon for that matter, would form a link with his desired bitch? I know that that applies to you…"

Inuyasha shifted uneasily, his ears laid backwards, distressed. His gaze roved about the room, seeking a way out. _What does any of this have to do with Kagome's problems? How does the link, and discussing it, help her at all? Damn it! What she needs is for the well's magic to be restored! What she needs is to get away from me and my dysfunctional, insane, crazy_…his uncertain, troubled thoughts splintered apart, seeming to fly in different directions and get lost when he sensed Kagome through the link, wakening. Without realizing it, Inuyasha settled himself, feeling himself calm a little at the schoolgirl's presence. It unified him, made him concentrate more clearly, more thoroughly.

He glared back at the monk, "I don't see how talking about the damned link will help Kagome!" he snarled, "And I didn't make this link—it just_ happened_."

Saishi appeared unfazed, "Of course it just happened, Inuyasha." He smiled a little, as if indulging a young child, "But whether you meant to or not, _you_ did form it." He stopped speaking to study the hanyou for a moment, black eyes narrowed, "You likely did it simply to understand her, to attempt to please her maybe…but, as it works between all inuyoukai, it began to strengthen when she _accepted_ it."

That caught Inuyasha's attention. He could feel Kagome sleepily waking in the women's quarters some distance away, yawning and shivering against the morning chill. He almost shivered himself, gripped by the thought that he should be lying beside her, keeping her warm inside his arms…he shook his head, dispelling the distraction, "She _accepted_ it?" he queried, blinking.

Saishi nodded, "That is why it is important. You asked how talking about this can help your Kagome…"

"Yeah, I did." Inuyasha grumbled, glowering, "And I still haven't gotten a straight answer, old man."

The monk smiled amusedly and bowed once, "My apologies, half-demon. It has been revealed to me just this night that your bond with the miko is utterly important. You are two halves of a whole. You must not fight this inevitability. If you do it will kill you both." His black eyes were grave as he stared at Inuyasha, willing him to understand.

He didn't. Scowling, Inuyasha gave his trademark grunt, "Feh! Nothing is going to kill me! And I'm not about to let anything even _touch_ Kagome!"

It was Saishi's turn then to scowl. "Foolish pride, Inuyasha. Nothing needs to threaten you for the both of you—and more—to die." He sighed and abruptly began massaging his temples. "Amito!" he shouted, and Inuyasha flinched at the monk's sudden commanding tone.

From behind the hanyou came the scurry of small feet. The same small monk that had led Inuyasha away from the men's quarters so early in the morning, reappeared and knelt near Inuyasha, bowing. "Yes, Great Master Saishi?" he asked, his voice, although loud, held a slight tremor in it, and the hanyou scented fear on the young monk. _What is he afraid of…?_ The answer hit him when Amito gace a short sidelong glance toward Inuyasha, and a small tremor passed through him.

_He's afraid of me_…Inuyasha realized, stiffening. His ears folded backward, amber eyes darkened with irritation.

Saishi nodded to the servant, "Please fetch the priestess they brought with them—she answers to the name Kagome Higurashi." In a second, before Inuyasha could protest, Amito was gone, hurrying off at a speedy but dignified pace.

The hanyou turned his angry eyes on Saishi again, frowning with his disapproval. "Kagome is barely awake, and she's been sick you bastard—leave her alone." Without realizing he was doing it, Inuyasha flared his canines in a clear threat.

Rather than be angry or surprised or worried with the hanyou's warning, Saishi sighed, as if terribly tired of the whole thing, "Inuyasha, there is no need for you to protect her at this time, at least not from us. From yourself, perhaps…"

Immediately the hanyou's face burned bright red, as he took the monk's words to be an insult aimed at a physical desire for the schoolgirl. "I'm not a pervert!" he shouted.

Saishi nodded tiredly, "I know you're not. I was not saying that you are. As usual you're missing the point—I was merely saying that you are harming her by restraining yourself. She _needs_ your closeness, this too has been revealed to me. I know she is ill—and one of the reasons, I believe, is because _you_ are fighting the truth." he leaned forward, boring into Inuyasha with his powerful, black-eyed gaze, "The last thought I shall leave you with is this: you, Kagome, and your friends may _all _die before your quest is complete if _you_, Inuyasha, do not start what you have finished with the young miko."

The amber orbs didn't blink, didn't move, "And what exactly will kill us all, may I ask? And what have I started with Kagome that I have to finish?" his tone was challenging, he though that Saishi was full of clever-sounding lies. The sharp, keen annoyance burning in his gaze explained that well enough.

"What will kill you?" he shook his head, "I don't know that." He leveled his eyes with the hanyou and pinned him once more with a stern, solemn look, "But as for the miko—she is your other half, your mate, your woman, your bitch, your lover…" Saishi threw his hands up in an exasperated movement. "Whatever you wish to call her, she meets the description…or she _should,_ and _will_—if you allow her to."

Though he desperately tried to pretend otherwise, tried to look away, tried to scoff, Inuyasha felt an inner instinct that he both feared and cherished ripple within him. It spoke with a voice that was his own, but was from a deeper, more primitive, simpler place inside him. It might've been the remnants of his wilder, demonic form, perhaps a true form buried by his human-half whispering to him, or just the mindless urge that all creatures feel to take a mate. Whatever it was Inuyasha didn't particularly care, but he knew that when it spoke its call was powerful, sending chills through him, making his ears twitter like nervous birds atop his head.

It whispered: _Your mate…_

Saishi's words of farewell dimly reached him, as did the knowledge that Kagome was groggily walking the path behind Amito, coming toward the temple through the dim dawn light outside, just as he had what seemed like a lifetime ago. He was confused, frustrated, and distinctly unhappy, but seeing Saishi staring at him blankly told him that he was expected to leave—he wasn't invited to see or hear Kagome's visit with the lead monk.

He couldn't stop himself from bristling at the thought that he wouldn't be near her, wouldn't be able to comfort her from whatever Saishi had to tell her…he threw his most angry, threatening and murderous gaze yet at the monk. "I'll leave old man—but remember I'll know through the link every word. And if she cries—if she's unhappy at all—I'll come back and tear you apart." He bared his teeth once, a strange, ferocious, animalistic side of him emerging, terrible and fierce. And then he turned and walked toward the door through the burgundy hallway, gone as swiftly as he'd arrived.

* * *

Kagome blinked confusedly when she sensed Inuyasha nearby. She looked up from the small monk leading her onward and saw the hanyou just outside the temple that housed Saishi—he was glaring at her…her heart constricted painfully and she forced herself to look away. In her mind she searched the link, trying to sense what was on his mind, but it was closed off at the moment. 

The small monk reached the temple and slid out of his sandals on the verandah. Kagome, however, hesitated before heading up the small front steps after him. She remained where Inuyasha was standing only a short ways off the path, arms crossed, amber eyes flashing with irritation.

"Inuyasha…?"

"Kagome—whatever that old bastard says to you don't listen! He's so full of bullshit I wanna tear him apart!" as if to demonstrate his claws flexed at his sides.

She flinched. Something must've happened between the old monk and the vehement hanyou for Inuyasha to be so openly violent and so angry. She bit her lower lip worriedly and, more on instinct than on conscious thought, she stepped off the path and reached out to him, wanting—_needing?—_to embrace him…but the hanyou saw this and sidestepped her advance, frowning deeply.

"If that bastard makes you cry…" he idly threatened, but he wasn't looking her in the eye, and she was no longer brave enough to try reaching for him. It was clear to her, though the link still shared with her no secrets, that Inuyasha wasn't willing to receive her comfort at this time…_and likely never_…she thought angrily, and abruptly she was fighting tears.

She turned and followed the small monk up onto the verandah, sliding out of her shoes before she stepped into Saishi's hall.

The monk was once again sitting on his cushion, just as he had been yesterday, but this time he wore light blue robes. "Ah, thank you Amito, you have been a wonderful help this morning." He praised the small monk that had led and summoned her to the Master monk. Amito bowed humbly and muttered quick thanks before Saishi waved him away and turned his attention to Kagome, who was still standing up and shifting uneasily.

"Sit, child!" he chuckled, gesturing downwards with one hand. As she sat he examined her, carefully, with his dark, eerie eyes. After a moment he scowled and cleared his throat, "I was wrong to have called you 'child,' you are closer to being a woman I see."

She restrained a blush and kept her eyes carefully averted. Inwardly she was searching for Inuyasha through the link, which had opened up again. She was surprised to notice that the moment she could detect him through it she was comforted; she was safe…

"You asked me yesterday," Saishi began pleasantly, "why your well would trap you here. After all, you _are_ a native of a future era, am I not correct?" She nodded shyly so he continued easily, "I have considered this and meditated on it. I think I have discovered the answer: _your_ future lies here, in the past."

Immediately Kagome's eyes clouded with tears, "But…my family…" she gasped, her voice thick with grief.

Saishi sighed sadly, his gaze softening, "I'm afraid I don't know about that. However, it may be possible that this is only temporary. I believe that Time needed to keep you here to accomplish something. When whatever this thing is happens to be finished, well, then why shouldn't the well let you go back to your family?" he offered a timid smile, trying to instill hope in her, though he knew, silently, that she was small, frightened, and alone at the moment. Her friends were her only comfort, and the hanyou from among them was so mixed up he was hardly anything but a worry to her. He pitied the girl.

Kagome shook, fighting the need to sob in her grief. "W-w-what d-do I need to d-do?" she stammered, her voice strained by her tears.

Saishi's hands, lying in his lap, curled into frustrated fists. "I'm afraid that is unknown to me."

Suddenly she looked up at him, a stark fear shining in her brown eyes, "What happens," she spoke in a terror-stricken whisper, "If I fail? What happens if I don't ever do what Time needs done?"

Saishi shifted uneasily and forced his gaze to his hands in his lap instead. "I am not sure of that either—though I believe that if you cannot meet the requirements Time has set out for you, if you cannot discover them, I think you will die." He didn't need above-average mortal hearing to detect the raspy gasp the young priestess made.

"How will I die, Master Saishi?" her voice was remarkably calm, despite the subject matter of such a question.

"Again I am not sure…" he met her eyes and swallowed uncomfortably, "I know that you are already ill mysteriously."

"Yes." She breathed, shaking again, "What…can I do?" she choked out, beginning to cry once more.

"I know that there are multiple reasons for your current illness…" he scowled, wishing desperately that things made more sense to him, that he could tell this poor girl better news, "One of them is caused by the forces of Time…the other," he shifted anxiously, wondering how she would take this, "is your link."

She glanced up at him, blinking her tears away in surprise. Her breathing was ragged but strong. "My…link?" she frowned lightly, "How did you…?"

"It was revealed to me in a dream." He explained with a wave of one hand, "It matters not that I know about it, Lady Kagome, but rather it matters that I can tell you to use it to your full advantage…do you know what such a link as this _is _exactly?"

She shook her head, sniffling, "No."

"It is the demon's equivalent to mortal man's proposal of marriage." He answered bluntly, and winced inwardly when he heard her gasp in shock. The shock buried the tears and the grief.

"You mean…_Inuyasha_…?" she whispered, sounding as if she scarcely believed him herself, but distinctly like she _wanted_ to believe.

"Yes," Saishi nodded sternly, "but, Lady Kagome, he knew not what he was doing. He was raised by his mortal mother and knows nothing of dog demon courtship habits—though, interestingly enough, he instigated your link just as if he had known what he was doing." Saishi managed to chuckle at the irony of the situation. The traits of the dog demon died hard.

"What…" she murmured hesitantly "…does this mean?"

The monk focused his eyes on her again, but was silent for a time before he did finally speak again. "I'm afraid that it means you are waiting on your half-demon to wise up."

She blinked, surprise and fear darkening her expression, "I'm sick because of it…?"

Saishi averted his eyes. "Ask your mortal companions to research it during your stay. I will not speak of it here." He bowed to her once, slowly, showing her more respect than he had the servant to Kagome's surprise. "I wish you all the peace and good luck that the heavens can bestow on a mortal, Lady Kagome. You and your companions may stay another night with us before you leave if you so wish." He smiled a little, "Good day."

Unthinkingly, Kagome bowed as well and returned his parting words, "Good day." But the words were empty as they passed out of her lungs. She felt numbed inside, shocked and grief-stricken at once. Surely she would explode with all of the pent up, confusing emotions inside her, blowing like a typhoon. She was hardly aware of Amito bowing to her briefly and leading her out of the burgundy hall that belonged to the Great Master. She was lost deep inside herself as she followed him through the gardens, down the steps and the hills, and toward the women's quarters.

Sango greeted her warmly, though Kagome easily saw the curiosity, the desire to question the schoolgirl on what Saishi had revealed to her. Despite it the demon slayer restrained her curiosity and didn't ask anything of Kagome. Rather than face the world, and her grieving, bewildered thoughts, Kagome rested, pretending to be asleep, though even that she feared…nightmares waited behind her closed eyes.

* * *

**Naraku's Death and Chikara's Fate**

_Inudoushi pursued Naraku with the Shikon Jewel's purified power, swearing to avenge Chikara's death. The dog demon easily found the weakened Naraku and the last battle began. Naraku, evil until the last breath, taunted Inudoushi's guilty heart._

_"The human woman died for you, Dog, to let you kill me. Yet though you destroy me you shall feel no rest, no peace, and no victory. Your very soul is hollowed out by her loss. I die at your hands knowing that my legacy of suffering endures even within the heart of my murderer!" and so it was that even as Inudoushi tore his longtime nemesis apart and finally sent him to the bowels of the Underworld, where the beast belonged, he felt no joy, no accomplishment._

_With Naraku dead Inudoushi returned to where he had left Chikara's body but refused to mourn her. He wanted nothing but to have her walking beside him once more, to have her living and breathing. Desperately he dressed the mortal woman in her best robes and took her from temple to temple, from spiritual spot to holy place. In each sacred place he begged and pleaded with the ancient gods that demons worshipped, praying that she be restored to him as a dog demon so that he could wed her. Each time he was answered with silence, and Chikara never sprung back to life._

_Finally Inudoushi returned to the great and ancient tree whose roots he'd been resting on when Chikara had appeared to him. He planned to bury her beside it, and vowed never to forget her, never to give his heart to another, whether she was demon or human. But when the time came to be parted even from her corpse he found that he could not._

_So it was that Inudoushi spent the night amidst the ancient tree's branches, his heart and soul troubled at the sight of the lifeless human woman at the foot of the old tree's roots. And in the deep darkness of that night a voice spoke within his dreams._

_"You love this human woman called Chikara?" the soft voice whispered to Inudoushi._

_The dog demon spoke to the dream-haunting presence not with his own voice but with the call of his soul: **I do.**_

_And the whispering voice responded: "You wish her to live again?"_

**_I do._**

_"When you wake," the voice murmured, "You must use the Shikon Jewel to restore her life…but there will be a price to pay."_

**_I care nothing about a price, as long as I am allowed to be with her._**

_The voice bid him farewell, for it was satisfied. "Live long Inudoushi, and be happy. Name your children Tetsuseiga."_

_When Inudoushi woke with dawn's first light after the mysterious voice had left him, he ripped the Shikon Jewel from where it hung about his neck. He prayed and pleaded that it would restore Chikara to the land of the living once again, no matter what price was needed in exchange. A spell of dizziness overtook the dog demon and he fell into a deep sleep._

_The next time Inudoushi opened his eyes he found that the sun was setting. At the foot of the ancient tree Chikara was wakening as well, rubbing her eyes as if she had merely been sleeping for a long, long time. Inudoushi took the human woman in his arms in a desperate embrace, and pledged his love for her, swearing never to leave her or to let any harm befall her ever again…_

_Yet when Inudoushi withdrew and looked Chikara in the eye he saw her confusion. The young woman said to him, "Who are you, sir?"_

_Though his heart cried out with pain, Inudoushi answered her calmly, "I am Inudoushi. You are Chikara. I have brought you back from the dead. I have slain Naraku. Now I am here to make you my bride because I love you."_

_And Chikara laughed at him, saying, "But I know Inudoushi—he is a **demon**, you are only a man."_

_It was then that Inudoushi realized the Shikon Jewel's price: his demon heritage…_

* * *

Endnote: Ha, did it surprise you? Well onto my thank yous...I think there were quite a LOT of them this time around too! YAYS! MUCHO THANKS TO EVERYONE! 

THANK YOU: _**toxiclollipop **_(Nope, it makes perfect sense! You actually hit it right on the nose! The other day I was watching the anime with my sister and I asked, "How come they always call IY a stupid worthless half-demon and then he whoops their butt and accomplishes something that his father, who's supposedly so high and mighty, never dreamed of doing?" And my little sister shrugged and, being the expert that she is, answered, "It's becuase he has Kagome." So I guess that's kinda what this fic is about...) _**UnseenViolet **_(I do need to do that...I'm not sure if anything discussed this chapter makes that any clearer...I might try it again later...that goes for **everyone** if you don't understand the time thing paradox thingers just ask me, don't be shy!) **_deathsangel666_** (thank you? are you new too? SQUEES! Welcome if you are!) _**NefCanuck**_ (hehe, your review made me laugh! It's Inuyasha's fault! And i love that word "mucking" (snickers)...actually in the long run you're closer than you know...) _**Yami Chikara**_ (WOW! thank you! See, this is why I do all this stuff, cuz posting and hearing from you makes me feel good! (BIG grins!)) _**SerenaClearwater **_(I'm glad you thought of that, you're very clever and definately the only one who's had that thought so far...I've thought of it myself, and it WOULD make a great ending...but I have yet to decide if it will go there or not yet...we shall see...) _**slummyreddragon**_ (was this any better? I'm not sure what I was holding back...unless it was information...I did hold back on that...turned it into two chapters b/c I didn't want it to be one huge info spill...) _**Crolynx **_(Doesn't bother me at all! Thank you for your service in the military actually...! See, I'm a wimp when it comes to that sort of thing myself, so I hold a great amount of respect for those that can and do handle it! THANK YOU!) _**freelke**_ (Oh! I'm sorry! But you're right, I AM happy! (big grins!) Tho I'm sorry you were late for class! You don't need to be late for me!) _**sarah, InuPhoenix, Hikaru1617 **_(I'd love to give them a try sometime, only problem is that it'd be like walking me through a maze...I can't tell you anything about it b/c I don't know it, a friend of mine watched rerouni kenshin or however it's spelled, but I've never seen it at all!) _**Tiamath**_ (ha! You and me both...ugh!(grins painfully)) **_Inuadmirer_ **(sorry it wasn't sooner...FFnet's playing games with me/us/everyone...) _**fanfiction1**_ (hehe...you'll just have to find out, sorry if it's causing you any upset...repeat after me: deep breath in...release...lol, sorry, I'm being a nerd. That the well is keeping Kagome and Inuyasha together, like they would have to pass through at the same time is actually something I hadn't considered...you're doing some serious thinking there...good ideas, keep 'em coming!) Wel that's it: Preview time(in this one Kagome is accusing Inuyasha of being a pervert)...:

_Inuyasha growled deep and low, like a tiger. "You'd be wrong…**bitch.****"** **Close off that link you stupid hanyou, she's trying to get you to react…** he followed his own advice, grunting and turning away from her as he did so, throwing one last quip over his shoulder at the expectant schoolgirl, "And why the **hell** would I want to see **you** naked, bitch?" _

_As he strolled past Miroku, who was now unabashedly staring at the exchange, Inuyasha snarled, "What are **you**__ looking at, letch!"_

Thank you all! Over 100 reviews now! YAYS! I'm so proud! Could never have done it without you all!


	12. Journeying 2

**Disclaimer:** Nope I don't own him...I guess Saishi, Takoto, andIshiro are kinda mine...(shrugs)

**A/N:** Well it's finally gotten hot here...and buggy, gnats, mosquitos, black flies, sand flies, the whole friggin lot of them and they're all out for a little taste of Shilyn Blood. (shudders) Went to a graduation party today and got nearly eaten allive...I hate the after-being-bitten-and-creeped-out-too-hot-and-muggy-bug feeling. It sucks majorly. But good news was I saw a fun guy and he wants to start a band with me (grins)...nuff said 'bout that though, right? Kay: most of this is filler...(I hate filler but since the next chapter is like all intense and back to seriousnessI guess this is compensation...)group interactions while they travel back towards "home" mostly.So it's relatively light-hearted and such, some summarizing. I had to get them away from the quiet of the temple I suppose. Inuyasha muses on what to do about Saishi's words from last chapter later...THAT's important. Then, lastly, I _**finish**_ the story Mrs. H has been reading...some reviewers thought it was over last chapter (did I say it was? If I did I'm sorry...) but it's not, it's over NOW...next chapter we have more Souta/Mrs. H direct stuff...YAY! Anyway...this one's kinda long so I'm going to be skimpy with my endnotes...remember to drop me a line and tell me if I suck! THANK YOU!

**

* * *

**

**Journeying 2**

"Well what do you think, my Sango?" Miroku gave the demon slayer a worried, querying expression, jerking his chin in the direction of the sleeping miko on the other side of the fire. Shippo and Kilala were snuggled against the schoolgirl, all of them taking in and letting out small wheezing breaths of peace and calm. It would've been a most pleasant scene, if not for the fact that the monk and the demon slayer knew that Kagome's pale complexion was anything but normal.

Sango sighed heavily. "I think that we shouldn't have let Inuyasha drag us away from the temple so soon, I'm sure Saishi and the other monks would've let us stay for as long as a week! And heaven knows that poor Kagome could use that…" she shook her head worriedly, her gaze darting to the sleeping girl a short distance away, her voice lowering, "She's been so tired and sluggish for a week or more now…I'm beginning to worry, Miroku."

He nodded, sharing her concerns, but the conspiratorial glint inside his violet eyes told Sango plainly enough that he had a plan. Nervously Miroku leaned closer to her, the staff against his shoulder jangled with the movement. She noticed the way Miroku glanced behind him and all around before he risked speaking—likely looking for Inuyasha, but the hanyou had vanished, off pouting somewhere.

"Before we left I was able to visit the record archives and the temple's libraries…"

Sango's slim hand rose to cover her lips, hiding her mixture of surprise and glee. She hadn't known that Miroku could have been so swift and effective…though without women about to distract him the young pervert was quite intelligent… "You discovered something about their link?" she whispered, leaning so close she could feel Miroku's body heat whispering past her lips, a feathery touch.

Slowly he nodded, eyes flicking briefly to her lips before he spoke again—her closeness was distracting him but he refused to wander off topic before they had spoken seriously. "Yes, it's just as Shippo said. A link between demon mates that is well established by emotional bonds makes them sensitive to one another—and when one dies the other often does as well…"

Mortified, Sango pulled away, looking to Kagome with widened, fearful eyes. She whispered her friend's name mournfully, her eyes full of pity, _"Kagome…"_

Miroku grabbed the demon slayer's hand, squeezing it to reclaim her attention. "There's more, Sango."

She looked back at him, frowning. "I think the first stuff was bad enough!" looking down at their clasped hands she seemed startled, yet it was several moments before she blushed and ripped her hand from his, mumbling beneath her breath unintelligibly with her embarrassment. The monk's next words made her jerk her gaze back to him in a confused, blushing shock.

"It's nearly mating season, isn't it?"

The chocolaty brown eyes were wide as Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. "What! Did you say mating season…?"

Miroku nodded, forcing his expression to remain utterly serious, "I'm speaking of demons of course, but my Sango…" he allowed a slight smile of mischievous amusement to curve over his lips, "You are a demon slayer, proud and skilled, don't you already know about the demon mating seasons?"

Immediately Sango was scowling deeply and scooting away from Miroku's lecherous reach. "Of course I know of demon mating seasons!" she sounded outraged that he would accuse her of such ignorance, "But…" her gaze focused on Kagome for a moment, and then, nervously, panned around the rest of the dim meadow, seeking a flash of silver and red.

The monk eased himself forward slightly, lying one palm—the cursed right one—on her knee as he did so. "But what, lovely Sango…?" he encouraged, smiling indulgently as his hand edged slyly ahead, over her knee and onto her thigh…

Sango gasped, her face flushing bright red and made a terrified squeaking noise of protest before she instinctively slugged the pervert across the face, sending him, purple robes and all, sprawling on his backsides. When Miroku blinked at her from a few feet away he was dazed, but a lingering warmth remained deep inside his violet colored orbs. A small smile played at the corners of his lips. One hand rose to cup the cheek she had abused almost lovingly.

Sometimes Sango wondered if the punishment he received for such gropes wasn't part of the pleasure…she shivered, not entirely out of disgust, despite herself, and glared at him fiercely. "Can you _quit_ the lechery for an hour maybe? Just _one_ hour of your life, Miroku? One!" she gestured helplessly at Kagome's sleeping form, her voice dropping lower, "We might be dealing with a life and death situation if she doesn't get better soon…"

Abruptly Miroku smirked, "I think it's life, Sango, that we'll be dealing with."

She scowled, catching the insinuation of sex in his tone, "I told you to stop…" a dangerous gleam caught in her eyes and Miroku flinched.

"No, Sango, you misunderstand me! Not everything I do or say or think is lecherous! When I spoke before I was being serious!" he steadied himself and cleared his throat more confidently when he noted that he had managed to claim her attention, "As I was saying before—demon mating seasons. You know of them?"

Again she appeared mildly insulted. "Of course. The simple demons breed in the fall and hibernate through winter to birth in the spring…"

"Those demons are like centipede, spider, toad and bat youkai, am I right? Small creature youkai." the intellectual Miroku was once more clearly in control of his perverted twin, and Sango relaxed, nodding to his question calmly. "And what of higher demons, Sango? The larger creature youkai?"

She threw him a suspicious glance, and then, cautiously, peered about the meadow, squinting into the shadows beyond the firelight…nothing obvious…uncertainly she looked back to Miroku, chewing her lower lip. "Higher demons mate in the summertime." She narrowed her eyes at him, as if trying to pin him and force him to reveal his every secret. "Where are you going with this?" despite her question, they both inherently understood where it was headed…

Miroku's glance flicked to Kagome, focusing there for a long moment before he finally spoke his mind, answering Sango's question: "The temple archives and notes said that linked demons are cyclical and monogamous, it's a higher demon trait to bond with a suitable mate and then rear offspring."

The demon slayer scowled, "That was never something I was taught—and I've learned about—and killed—_many_ demons…" she didn't like the idea of the linked demon pairing, it reminded her of a marriage, and stirred memories that were abruptly uncomfortable.

As a younger girl she'd once accompanied her father as an apprentice and watched him slaughter a male fox demon that had been occasionally stealing a village's chickens. The kitsune had been in his true form, charging them, foaming at the mouth…her father had slain the beast easily, the fox was mostly bark and no bite. But just as they had left with the fox's head to collect payment from the villagers, another fox had appeared, this time in bipedal, humanoid form—a vixen…

Sango pushed her fisted palms into her eyes, trying to grind the foul memories away. _The vixen had screamed and cried and cursed them, her grief was a tangible thing, and all of the slayers had borne taut expressions of mixed emotions when they stabbed at her flesh, tore her in half…she'd been with child, her belly rounded not in gluttony but pregnancy. She'd **wanted** to die at their hands, to spare herself and her unborn kit a life without the male to protect them_…it'd been the only time Sango had hated what she'd been born to do, the only time she'd ever felt the things she killed for a living were somewhere near human.

She forced herself to face Miroku, clearing her mind as well as her facial expression. "You can't tell me that that's the only way that higher demons breed."

The monk shook his head, watching her carefully, "No, I said nothing like that. Only that on occasion some demons form this bond to breed. Others don't—they just wait until maturity, which takes a lot longer. Shippo's parents…" his eyes flew to where the said kit was snoring, twitching in his sleep against Kagome's side, "Are such an example of it I believe."

Eyes glazed but directed at Kagome's form, Sango hissed her next question, her voice full of disapproval, "You're going to tell me that you think Kagome and Inuyasha will become such a pair?" she shook her head silently, "Kagome is not a demon, and neither, technically, is Inuyasha." She met the monk's violet gaze sharply, "Your plan is flawed, houshi-sama, I'm sorry to say it, but it makes no sense."

He shook his head, "I didn't say that, my Sango! You interject before I can finish! Listen: I think that Inuyasha and Kagome have a bit of such a link, yes." He met her stare unflinchingly, "Can you deny that Sango?"

She sighed, unhappily. "I guess not."

Miroku looked triumphant, scooted closer to her, "And, lovely Sango, I believe that they are suffering a compulsion or complication of this link that is related to the approach of the demon mating season…thus, I believe the illness shall pass soon enough…"

Sango was aghast, her face blushing a bright red like Inuyasha's red fiery robes. She looked desperately between Kagome sleeping still across the fire and the monk who was so confidently waiting for her to argue with him. Her mouth hung open, catching flies for a while before she snapped it shut and instead used it to frown with. "Are you saying that Inuyasha and Kagome need to…" her voice cracked and died, her lips trembled. She saw Miroku on one knee before Kagome, asking: _Will you bear my child?_ But her inner mind changed the image of the kneeling monk into one of a kneeling silver haired, red robed, dog eared Inuyasha…

The sharp chuckles and chortles of laughter that emerged from the monk's throat snapped Sango back into the present. She blinked confusedly for a moment, watching as Miroku clutched his side, his shoulders shaking and his staff jangling against his shoulder with every shuddering laugh. "Sango…" he half-moaned through his mirth, "You should've seen your face…I could only…dream what you…were thinking about…" he gasped out between bursts of merriment.

The fire that crept into her cheeks made Sango mutter under her breath and turn away. "Shut up Miroku!" she warned him, but the words had no conviction attached to them. The monk went on laughing a moment until a sudden yawn from Kagome startled both slayer and monk to attention.

"Kagome!" Sango hurriedly rose to her feet and knelt beside her friend, asking her how her rest had been and how she felt. The miko seemed groggy but otherwise without care, much to both Sango and Miroku's relief. As the evening wore on Inuyasha remained mysteriously absent and the conversation between Miroku and Sango faded into the past, as if it had never happened at all…

* * *

With no other clear destination or sure place to go, the group listlessly traveled back in the direction of Kaede's village, a vague thought of seeking treatment for the lingering sickness in both Inuyasha and Kagome, as well as to test the well again, though not a one of them held any hope with such a venture. In the first week Kagome sensed a Shikon shard, and, as was to become standard with most things they did later, the group hesitated until the miko assured them that she was up to the task. When they investigated the group easily took the fragment as their own and added it—one step closer—to the completion of the entire Jewel. 

The Shard-hunters wandered on.

As the weather warmed with the ripening of springtime aging into summer, all traces of illness fled Kagome, as suddenly as they had come. It was just as if it had only been the weather affecting her: storm clouds and chilly air descended and visited for a time, waiting, loitering. Then the sun burned them off and disease evaporated. She became spirited and lively again, eagerly discussing current events with Miroku and Sango, playing with Shippo and Kilala—and, of course, bickering with Inuyasha.

The ever-watchful demon slayer and the always-lecherous monk did not miss the fact that Kagome and Inuyasha's bantering had taken on a decidedly adult tone…and that a lot of the talk was happening on a level that none of them could hear. To say it interested them was somewhat of an understatement. They discreetly worked to observe the miko and the hanyou's interactions continuously.

At about two weeks of steady travel the first hot day struck, a day that truly felt like summer in all its sweaty, blistering intensity. The morning and afternoon sun beat down atop the Shard-hunters' heads. It wasn't long before their robes were soaked through with sweat, their brows dripping with the stuff. Shippo lounged on Kagome's shoulder, panting exhaustedly; Kilala sagged in her master's arms limply. Miroku's sleeves were rolled up and looking completely ridiculous, Sango had moved her shawl from her shoulders to her head as a sun shade to protect her head—though it seemed to only make her feel hotter. Kagome's long black hair was plastered to the back of her neck, her uniform's white shirtsleeves rolled up to her elbows.

Inuyasha panted like a dog, his white ears melted—but otherwise he did nothing to combat the heat except bitterly curse it.

_"Damn_ it! It's so fu—"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome interrupted, slugging him with one fist on the shoulder. Through their link she had sensed his next words just soon enough that she could stop him from saying them aloud. She'd also heard that particular curse far too many times that afternoon, and, like a mother scolding her son, she tried every time to correct his language. "Stop saying that! Shippo's still only a kid you know!"

The hanyou tossed her a quick golden-eyed glare over one shoulder—his silver bangs were glued to his forehead with sweat, his mouth was open in the ridiculous and currently silent 'O' shape, his tongue protruding just slightly. "I'll say whatever the hell I damn well want—_Bitch!"_ he scowled at her, but Kagome caught his stifled amusement through the link…he was teasing her.

She narrowed her eyes dangerously at him nonetheless, and let him feel her seriousness on the current topic, "I'm not kidding you idiot!" _I'll sit you whether it's hot out here today or not…_

The ears quivered, though for exactly what reason Kagome couldn't be sure. Inuyasha growled to himself and turned his back on her, "Feh, bitch—whatever!"

"Don't call Kagome that, Inuyasha…" Shippo scolded, frowning from his surrogate mother's shoulder where he was trying to shelter in the shadow her neck created.

Inuyasha rounded on the kitsune, one clawed finger aimed at him like a sword, "Don't think—runt—that I'm afraid of Kagome using her wimpy-ass little spell on me! I _will _beat the sh—"

"Inuyasha!" another meager slap on the shoulder for his language by Kagome, playing mother, "Don't talk to him that way!" too late she saw his attention slip so easily from Shippo to her, felt his eagerness for the change in the monotony of their walk and the chance to bicker with her…and beneath it she caught his strangled desire to be at her side, to be her second half…

The hanyou grabbed her hand in his and squeezed, "I'll talk to him—and to _you_—any damn way I please!" he'd stopped walking and was in her face, a seemingly threatening position, but there were no lies between the two of them. At another time, before the link, she would've squeaked in fear and gotten just far enough away to have screamed _SIT_. Now she was not left naïve—the link whispered that his words and posturing were empty and completely without meaning. He was testing her reaction…and…getting close enough to…_smell me?_

Shippo, shivering in terror, leapt away from Kagome, assuming that she was already pinned and doomed to death. "Help her, Miroku, Sango!" he begged, crawling up the monk's leg as he screamed for their protection and assistance.

"Shippo!" Miroku twitched and writhed, kicking the leg that the kit was climbing up to try and dislodge the little demon. "That—_tickles! Stop it!"_ he tried to withhold the chuckles that were fighting to escape his lips, desperately trying to free himself of Shippo and watch the developing tension between the hanyou and the schoolgirl at the same time. He failed miserably.

In his frantic attempts to free himself of the kit, Miroku fell right into Sango, and all four of them, the two humans and two smaller youkai, smashed into the ground in a tangled heap. Shouts and curses, mewing and nervous kitsune squeaks rose from the jumbled mass, drawing both Inuyasha and Kagome's attentions.

As Kagome started to laugh at them cheerfully, Inuyasha stiffened, the hilarity suddenly forgotten, forced out of his brain at the painful contraction he felt in his gut when Kagome turned away from him—wafting her scent at him. In the hot weather the entire group was sweating profusely—but to Inuyasha even Kagome's perspiration was like candy or an addictive drug. He fought the intense desire to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her into his chest, and found himself shaking by the time the instinct finally swept over him and broke. In its wake he felt a sort of roiling stomachache, the remains of his longing, fermented into loneliness and hopelessness.

As soon as the emotions were there he buried them again, struggling to hide them from Kagome. In her amusement she didn't notice his error.

* * *

That evening and night the humidity made the whole world feel like a swimming pool. Inuyasha let the group stop early at the first place that he scented water. Everyone needed a bath—himself included. 

"You girls go first—I'll make sure Miroku doesn't try to peek." The hanyou assured them gruffly. He threw the aforementioned pervert a quick glare, which Miroku easily ignored by focusing on the landscape around them, trying to calculate how far they were still from Kaede's village. Shippo was draped about his shoulders like a fox rug, dazed by the heat into momentary silence and sluggishness.

Sango nodded easily, "Okay, sounds good to me." she wiped her brow absently and then turned to search for Kilala while Kagome eyed Inuyasha suspiciously.

After a moment the hanyou arched one eyebrow, stepping a little closer to her, though at the same time struggling to withhold himself, "Bitch?" he queried so calmly that Kagome almost forgot to frown at him for his terminology again.

"I'm not a female dog, Inuyasha." She sighed at his continued display of foul language and then smirked—Inuyasha could feel as well as see her mischief. "And I don't believe you. I think that you're just as likely to go spy on Sango and I as Miroku is…"

The hanyou's amber eyes widened, his lips turned downward, his ears perked up and focused solely on her. "What?" he blinked, "You think I'm a pervert?" in his mind he couldn't help the stirring of longing enter him again as he formed a mental image of what he imagined the girls to look like naked…Kagome in particularly…the heat and the humidity were suddenly a thousand times worse. He prayed that the lake was freezing…

Unfortunately Kagome sensed these images, sensed their effect on Inuyasha. Her face flushed red almost like a stop sign it came on so fast. "Yes," she answered his question promptly, "I _do_ think you're a pervert." She eyed him keenly, a challenge glittering in her gaze, daring him to fight her on the topic when they both knew that she could always use the link and sense the truth—likely she already had.

Inuyasha growled deep and low, like a tiger. "You'd be wrong…_bitch."_ _Close off that link you stupid hanyou, she's trying to get you to react_… he followed his own advice, grunting and turning away from her as he did so, throwing one last quip over his shoulder at the expectant schoolgirl, "And why the _hell_ would I want to see _you_ naked, bitch?"

As he strolled past Miroku, who was now unabashedly staring at the exchange, Inuyasha snarled, "What are _you_ looking at, letch!"

The monk cringed and stepped back a little, violet eyes evading the hanyou. "Nothing, Inuyasha…" his courage returned a moment later as the hanyou passed by, apparently planning to watch over the perverted monk from a tree branch. The monk looked mischievously to Kagome, who was still standing where Inuyasha had left her, frowning in a mixture of confusion and the lingering pain of rejection. "Kagome—I think the right answer to Inuyasha's question is—"

He wasn't able to finish his thought before Kagome had already understood where he was going with it. She smirked and looked after the unknowing hanyou, now perched a short distance up a maple, claws digging into the woody bark. "Inuyasha?" she called, her voice innocent enough that it made the golden eyes swivel to take her in, the white ears focus on her carefully.

"Bitch?" he repeated his crude term for Kagome that had, over the last two weeks, become something closer to a nickname, though it still made Kagome bristle every time.

"Would you please SIT for me?" the resounding thud and the following yelp of pain satisfied the miko. With a nod of thanks to Miroku she turned back to Sango, who had found Kilala by then, and the two young women started into the brush through the humid air toward the lake…until Miroku's voice stopped them.

"Shippo! Where do you think you're going!" the kitsune was halfway between the monk who's shoulder he had but a moment ago been sedately resting on and the girls and Kilala who were heading to the lake. He stopped and looked confusedly to the monk behind him, green eyes innocent and still a little dazed.

"I'm going to have a bath with Kagome and Sango," he answered as if it was the most natural thing ever, and to him it was. Too young to really care about the differences between the sexes he thought only of self-preservation when it came to who he decided to bathe with: the guys or the girls. Considering that Inuyasha tended to hit him and threaten him, Shippo had little desire to bathe with them…but Kagome and Sango were his protectors, it made perfect sense.

Behind Miroku at the base of the maple tree Inuyasha shot to his feet, his face a vivid scarlet, amber eyes narrowed dangerously. "Like _hell_ you are, you little runt!" he snarled, "Get your little ass back here and wait your turn with Miroku and I…"

"Inuyasha!" Kagome scolded, shouting to make sure she could be easily heard over the distance, "Don't talk like that and you know Shippo's little enough that we don't really care if he bathes with us." She threw a questioning glance at the demon slayer at her side to make sure of her words and when Sango nodded reassuringly, she looked back to Inuyasha and Miroku determinedly, "He can come with us if he wants to, I wouldn't blame him, considering that _someone_ hits him all the time!" she crossed her arms, "Such violence to a _child_! Inuyasha you should be ashamed of yourself!"

The hanyou's ears folded backwards, his lips tightened into a thin white line of rage. Shippo, still between the two of them, shivered realizing that if he had had a choice before Kagome and Inuyasha's bickering had removed it. Going with Miroku and the hanyou to bathe was now about the same as suicide. He squeaked timidly and crossed the rest of the distance to leap into Kagome's waiting arms. He snuggled against her stomach, needing the comfort of her touch despite the heat and humidity.

Inuyasha's hands balled into fists as he watched the girls turn away, then he growled to himself, filled with the desire—no, the _need_—to tear something, anything, apart with his bare hands. Preferably it would be Shippo…

Miroku took one look at his companion and crossed the small clearing, putting numerous feet between himself and the hanyou. He waited patiently, entering a meditative state to seek peace—and a mental distance from the uncomfortable heat and sticky humidity. Across the meadow from him Inuyasha had retaken his position in the tree and was grumbling to himself aloud but under his breath that Kagome treated Shippo better than she treated him.

It was all the monk could do to keep himself quiet. _The great half-demon Inuyasha was jealous of a child…?_

* * *

Night fell over the land, milking the air, so thick with evaporated water that it almost seemed to rain with the dew. A steady mist hung in the air, a curtain of moisture. The Shard-hunters grumbled about it, though they were clean now with the world around them so wet still it was impossible to sleep until late into the night. The humans of the group sat up and chatted absently, discussing Jewel Shards and Naraku as well as anything else that served well enough to be used as an anti-boredom tool. Shippo and Kilala, both with more fur to be overheated, fell asleep exhaustedly, one on Kagome, the other on Sango. Inuyasha stayed in the maple tree, listening to their words, feeling the link he shared with Kagome buzz amiably as she conversed happily, and staring at the thinning sliver of the moon in the black velvet sheet of sky. 

_Soon I'm going to be human again_…not only did he fear an attack by Naraku on such nights, but also, on this night, he feared himself. Already his senses were beginning to dull—he couldn't scent even Kagome over the reek of smoke from their little campfire anymore, a sure sign that soon any demon with a decent sense of smell would take one whiff of him and…_they'd know I was about to become a miserable, worthless, weak human…_

His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten properly in ages. Proper, for Inuyasha, was generally a massive amount of raw meat. His human tastes drove him to Ramen and cooked fish, pickles, rice, and chicken—anything humans enjoyed and craved he generally ate plenty of as well…yet the animal in him, the mongrel dog wandering the forests, needed flesh to sustain it every so often. As a pup with his mother still feeding him human food every night he had, at times, still run off to catch and swallow the frogs that croaked just outside the village, slimy and still wriggling, down his throat.

He smirked a little through the dark, remembering how his mother had always been so shocked at his dirtied hands and his smudged face. She never knew that while she thought he was out playing war with the other little—_human_—boys he was actually feeding his wilder side's appetite…he stopped himself as he remembered that that wasn't in fact true—she _had_ known that he didn't play with the other children after he'd come to ask her what a half-breed was, just after he had come to realize that the villagers—and their children who were supposed to be his playmates—weren't really friends.

Old wounds smarted deep inside Inuyasha and the breath he drew in was snagged harshly in his throat. _That was just before they killed her and drove me away…_

He pushed the old pain away, cursing it as yet another sign of his approaching brush with humanity: volatile emotions. Another terrible side effect of being completely human for a night. As if weakness and dulled senses weren't enough! Those thoughts led him right into what he feared most…the hanyou turned his eyes away from the moon and toward the dimmed firelight some distance below. In his head he could sense Kagome's emotions, everything on the surface of her mind that she was currently leaving unguarded.

_When I'm human will it still exist?_ He wondered idly, caught between the possibilities…_I'd miss it if it were gone, I'd feel…alone_… yet at the same time he couldn't shake the dreadful instinct that if it did stay he'd make a terrible mistake with her…unbidden his memory of the creepy old monk's words returned to him: _"You would have her die of longing for you, and suffer through her unfulfilled desires…"_

He shivered, disturbed by the monk's terrible image of an old, embittered, unsatisfied Kagome…his golden eyes stared through the dark branches of the tree at her form, laughing with the others. Through the link he sensed that she was laughing at Miroku and Sango's very blatant flirtation. Despite himself he felt a warmth stirring within him, he wanted to hear her laughing forever, smiling with him and the others, full of love and cheer and mirth. The schoolgirl was like the glue that held them together. She supported Inuyasha's gruff personality with understanding, appreciated Miroku for his intelligence while gently turning away his inner pervert, mothered the orphaned, hyperactive Shippo, and counseled the distraught and lonely Sango away from melancholy.

_And she loves me…and I love her_…yet though that was undeniable Inuyasha refused to face it, refused to travel to the next logical step. _Everyone who loves me dies for it_, he reasoned, swallowing convulsively and shuddering with a terrible pain that no band-aid or ointment could've eased. _My mother and Kikyo…even my father died of his wounds trying to save me as a newborn. I'm a curse…and though we might love each other we can't change who and what we are—human and hanyou. I'll outlive her by a long, long time… _once more his eyes focused on Kagome's unknowing form, and, his face hardening, Inuyasha sealed off his mind from her as best as he could, coming to a decision.

_I'll let her go…I was right, Saishi was wrong. I'll let her go._

* * *

**_The Family Tetsusaiga_**

_Brought back to life, Chikara had no memories of the time she had missed while away from the Land of the Living. She asked the man who claimed to be the dog demon Inudoushi what she had missed, and if they had succeeded in the quest to destroy the evil demon Naraku._

_And when Inudoushi answered her he was filled with a profound relief. "Yes, Chikara, I killed Naraku—but it would've been an impossible task if you hadn't sacrificed yourself for me so bravely. I am forever in your debt, and you must know that I am in love with you."_

_Chikara was stunned to hear this, and when she looked him in the eye she found that she could see the resemblance that this mere man bore to Inudoushi, and she began to believe him. But his proclamation of love she was uncertain of. "Inudoushi," she asked, "Is this a new thing? As a demon you never spoke with me about my confession, of my love for you. I thought you didn't or couldn't love me. Is it only because you are human now that you love me?"_

_Inudoushi laughed and embraced her. "I was always lying to myself, Chikara. I wanted to believe that I wasn't in love with you even though I did. I've loved you for a long, long time now, though it made no sense to me, I could not stop myself."_

_But still Chikara was confused. "Why would you not wish to love me? Why would you lie to yourself?"_

_And Inudoushi answered her: "For the fear of losing you. If I admitted my love for you even to myself then the thought of losing you in battle would've killed me long ago. It was only after I'd lost you that I realized how wrong, what a complete fool I'd been…"_

_When the mortal woman gazed into his eyes she knew that he spoke the truth and she praised the heavens for allowing her another chance with the man she loved. They married not long after and took the surname Tetsusaiga, as the spirit of the ancient tree had instructed Inudoushi to do._

_From their loins the Tetsusaiga family arose, proudly calling themselves the demon-descended family. Legend says that the family's strange features (Amber/gold eyes, abnormal strength, athletic ability, and fair hair) are Inudoushi's latent dog demon influence. From Chikara's powerful soul come such abilities as prophetic dreams, intuition, and, strangest of all, it is said that every woman born to the Tetsusaiga family has a tiny shard of the legendary Shikon Jewel inside her where her spiritual powers are stored._

_So it is that the strength and prowess of the dog demon and the mortal woman that together destroyed the evil Naraku lives on within their descendants throughout the ages._

* * *

_Endnote: _THANK YOU! This is going to be short b/c the chapter was a little too long for my tastes, but as always THANK YOU ALL! 

**_LayanaHamoura_**(Sorry? I've seen them all different colors, but I stayed away from violet b/c that's Miroku's eyecolor...) _**deathsangel666, Tiamath**_ (all I'm gonna say is that as usual you're smart...(smirks) and I actually clarify a little on what is and isn't changed through the ages next chapter...) _**Yami Chikara**_ (Hehe...I'll leave you this hint: if the myth is exactly as their story will play out, then how can their descendants still have certain (ahem) rare traits?) _**Heather**_ (but remember that myths are frequently changed to reflect populartrends...you may just get what you want...) _**neoelite**_ (Thank you! Sashi huh? Say hi to her for me (winks)) _**SlummyRedDragon**_ (Thank you! Usually you're my toughest critic (winks) so I know I musta done something right with it! (snickers)) _**NefCanuck**_ (I LOVE your expression "Till Inuyasha grows a brain." hehe...as you can see he's not forgotten Saishi's words but he's still fighting them...he has his reasons for now at least...hehe...)_** toxiclollipop**_ (In the preview you don't get to see how Kagome was goading him...Sorry bout that...Oh, but as I've told a few others the myth doesn't necessarily equal real life events at all! Remember that it's REAL old! REAL old! Like older than the Constitution, and that's so old that they have to keep it sealed away in a vacuum...but it's still the real original thing. This myth is spread by word of mouth and I bet all of us know how easily things get changed as they spread by word of mouth from person to person...(nods) just remember that...) Well that's all for now folks! Wait, except for the preview! You're going to LOVE this!

_Kouga flashed his interlocked teeth at Inuyasha in an expression that was close to being savage, "I've come to claim my woman! With her ability to detect the Shards and my speed and strength we'll avenge my slain kin together, just as I always planned." He snorted once, noticing that Inuyasha was steadily getting angrier, "You can tag along dog boy, if you have the guts." _

Until next time! Drop me a line!


	13. Let Her Go

**Disclaimer:** Nope

**A/N:** Well I'm a little bored and depressed tonight...long day and then I read the latest of Sueric's chapters and tried to review--only to discover that I'm not aloowed to...I guess she blocked me, even though I don't know what I did at all! I know she gets flamed a lot but I've always tried to be careful not to tick anyone off (never flame, never curse in a review etc), and her fictions always make me laugh and I enjoy being able (or at least I DID) to review them...so I'm just really confused and even though she's just an author, and these are all just fictions and I've never met her and the like I guess it's human nature to sit around and feel miserable about it...I mean, what did I do? Why? (sighs) I guess this is me just feeling self-wretched lately...I gotta get something to eat before my bout of depression worsens...sometimes miserable-ness is cured by a good warm bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup or...something...well that's all one problem, the bigger, soul-riding, mind-occupying, bothersome eats-away-at-your-insides problem I have is getting published...I gotta lay off FanFiction and write something(s) original and sell 'em so someday I won't starve when I can no longer mooch off my loving (but financially already strained) family. STORY-wise: **Warning f-bomb** gotta tell you, but it only happens once and considering WHO IY is fighting with, can we really expect anything else? Anyway...enjoy...drop me a line and cheer me up, key?

**

* * *

****Let Her Go**

"Souta?" I slid the front door open, placing my shoes next to the entryway as I stepped into the cooler, darker interior of the house that held so many memories…mixed memories…I swallowed my melancholy and clutched the old book closer to my chest, as if it were one of my children, or a grandchild.

I looked around the living room—and saw nothing. The kitchen and dining room came next. Again Souta wasn't in there, and he hadn't bothered to pick up our abandoned breakfast either, I noticed with a squeak: Ashi was on top of the table, slurping up my milk around the cereal. When he looked up and noticed me I thought I saw a smirk in his sky-blue eyes.

Whoever it was that said cats aren't self-aware…I think they never owned one. Ashi knew full well that I didn't want him on the kitchen table, and I didn't want him finishing the milk from my cereal. But rather than act as a submissive house pet when I caught him red-handed he gave me a look that _dared_ me to shoo him away.

"You monster Ashi." I stepped forward and swatted him away from the cereal bowl.

Now from the floor Ashi looked up at me, distinctly indignant. He gave me one soft meow and licked the white smudge of milk from around his dark, cinnamon colored fur.

"Don't give me that look you bad kitty!" I scolded, waggling one finger at him just as I had Souta and Kagome when they'd been children. "You should be glad you've never had the misfortune of meeting Inuyasha…" the hanyou had had a strange affinity for cats, and had tortured Buyo, our cat of the time, despite his heritage as a dog demon. Buyo though had always been a gentle, sweet, almost dull cat. Ashi was his complete opposite. Perhaps it was better for Inuyasha that they'd never met…

My fingers tightened again around the book and as Ashi sauntered off—his long black tail held proudly in the air—I struggled to swallow my grief again. Since Kagome had failed to return through the well I'd taken to blaming Inuyasha for it…and yet after reading the story and seeing Souta's evidence…I couldn't help but remember Kagome's smile, the way she had loved Inuyasha despite his rudeness, his obnoxiousness, and his blatant but ever-stubborn love. Inuyasha had returned my daughter's love in his heart, but been unable to reveal it to her.

_Maybe she chose to stay there because Inuyasha finally did come round…_

Or maybe she had died, just as the Tetsusaiga family legend described.

I moved toward the stairs, calling Souta's name again. This time my son appeared groggily from what had once been his room, blinking at me in a mixture of confusion and irritation.

"What is it Mom?" he half-growled, rubbing his face in some desperate attempt to wake himself, "I'm trying to sleep…"

I paused, ashamed of myself for not remembering that he had been trying to catch up on some much needed sleep…but I decided that this couldn't wait. I covered the last stairs between us and thrust the old book into his arms. He blinked down at it sleepily and then shook his head like a wet dog—but it wasn't water he was struggling to remove, it was sleep.

"This thing Mom?" he muttered with a sigh, "I told you I think it's just bogus…"

"But Souta—did you read it? The names involved, the events, it's just too close." I shook my head, hoping that my persistence would convince him to have a look.

He paused, just as I'd hoped he would, and began scanning the story, looking at names…after a moment he snorted, amused, "Inu-doushi?" he repeated, "Naraku?"

"How many other records have mentioned Naraku, Souta? How many?"

He shrugged, uncertain, "It's actually not uncommon Mom," I felt my shoulders sag as he spoke, "A number of myths mention a demon named Naraku here or there."

"Do any of them describe his death?" I asked, hoping that I'd found the one convincing loophole.

Souta paused, his eyes frozen on the pages. "No, you're right, Mom, they don't. The other legends he's mentioned in describe his minor involvement here and there, not his death." He looked up at me; his face was once again wide-awake, hope-stricken all over. "Did you look through the source and story notes for this legend?" he asked, turning the book toward me again.

"N-no…I didn't…"_ there was more?_

He grinned at me. "Well let's go and do it!"

I watched in something of a daze as my son flipped through the pages, his eyes roving through what appeared to be an index listing sources. He mumbled to me as he went, "Great-grandpa Asenka interviewed and listed his sources carefully. There are even family trees of some of the families in here! And sometimes he generalized a story and changed it to fit in more with mainstream culture. He recorded the different versions in the back…Ah ha!"

I jumped at his exclamation, stunned anew by his vigor. Sometimes Souta was so bipolar…I leaned in to stare at the page's contents, hungry for a listing of the so-called "Chikara's" real name…

Souta read aloud: _"The Legend of the Shikon Jewel and Family Tetsusaiga_. There are many disputes among the various branches of the family regarding true names within the myth as well as the true events of the myth itself. The legend used in this story has been altered to fit the popular notion that humans and mythological demons are incompatible, though almost all of the Tetsusaiga family's members agree that their founders were one human woman and one demon."

"One human woman and one demon…?" I repeated; fighting the shaking that was trying to start up in my knees.

Souta nodded, though his eyes never left the page as he began reading again, "Names are debated among the family as well. Only in a few select branches of the family are genuine names recorded, and they are guarded as family secrets." Souta stopped and scowled, mirroring my own feelings at hearing that before he went on, "The name of Naraku the evil demon has gone unchanged through the ages they say, but the mortal woman who helped defeat him is said to be related, ironically, to the Higurashis." His voice died as he read the last word, a name we were both intensely familiar with.

I noticed that Souta's hands were shaking where he held the book, and, instinctively, I reached out took it away from him, finishing the rest of the notes section hungrily, pushing away my shock to be felt in another few minutes…

"The name of the dog demon she loved has been changed throughout the ages, though the family agrees his name included his demon ancestry as the first syllable: thus_ Inu_ is the first part of his name, the second can be any form of _spirit_ or _ghost _or _soul_. In some forms of the legend there are others who help destroy Naraku, though their names have been lost it seems. The Shikon Jewel is featured in numerous legends, thus its presence here is hard to explain. The family insists that Naraku did not always have the Jewel, that in fact the character of Chikara did. In truth much of this family's legend is very hard to explain and understand. It is my personal belief that it evolved to explain a family mutation: fair hair and unusual eyes. To explain a bizarre appearance the group invented a legend claiming demon heritage. It is interesting to note, however, that my source for this material, comes from an average looking woman of a family claiming to be related to the Tetsusaigas through one of the original ("Inudoushi" and "Chikara's") couple's daughters: the Keshikaran family. Keshikaran Asa went against the Tetsusaiga family, and her own family's wishes to clear up many of the mysteries of the family legend with me. I owe her many thanks, though she would accept nothing in repayment and insisted only that her distant grandmother—the "Higurashi" woman as Asa Keshikaran called "Chikara"—would've wanted it recorded in the Higurashi shrine for the future…"

Souta ripped the book from my hands, his brown eyes wide. One finger scanned through the page of notes that I'd just read, frantically searching for something.

"Souta…?"

He mumbled something under his breath and then pushed the book back at me. "C'mon Mom!" he pushed past me and rushed down the stairs, two at a time. At the bottom Ashi jumped three feet in the air and landed with a hiss, scolding Souta for scaring him.

"Souta! What are you doing?" I yelled after him, frowning in confusion. I started to head down the stairway after him, listening for an answer from my son…but all I heard was his dialing numbers on the phone, tapping his foot in impatience.

When I came round the corner and saw him wiggling impatiently with the cordless phone in one hand, I felt a thrill of something that might have been anticipation, even excitement rush through me. What was he up to…?

Finally something picked up and Souta faced me, phone still in his hand, his eyes wide and eager, shining with a light from the inside, "Hello? Operator? Can I have the numbers for the Keshikaran family in Tokyo?" he paused, listening carefully, and then scrambled for a pen.

My heart was pounding away as he scribbled number after number down, his wrist and fingers flying wildly. Finally he stopped when there were about 15 numbers down and hung up, though I could still hear the sound of the operator's voice droning on and on. When he looked back up at me from the phone and the paper, he grinned wildly, "Got 'em, Mom!"

* * *

It was the last thing he needed in the day before he turned completely human for a night: competition. 

Miroku had happily announced that morning that he thought they were about two days' travel finally from Kaede's hut, which was the closest thing that the rag-tag Shard-hunters had to a home. That had spurred the group into a rather heated walk that day. Little effort was put into communication. They concentrated only on walking the next mile, the next hour, struggled to ignore the still sweltering heat…

And Inuyasha struggled to ignore Kagome. Despite his best attempts the link was impossible to break, but he doggedly (A/N: haha punny! Is it doggedly or mulishly though? Either way it's just a synonym for stubbornness and that's Inu's middle name) continued to try. He'd become very sensitive to the schoolgirl's efforts to reach him, both through the link and in the real world. He caught her staring at him for lengthy amounts of time, noticed her trailing directly behind him like a faithful servant…and studiously ignored her.

The heat of the afternoon made the Shard-hunters rest at the first place that Shippo scented water at. Inuyasha, disgusted and depressed that he could no longer serve them as a water-detector, sulked in a tree, away from all the others…he made sure that they didn't know where he was, otherwise he feared one of them would try and approach him, try to make him feel better. That was a hopeless venture, he knew, so why should he even offer them the chance? He struggled, from his perch, to catch the wind and squint through the blinding sunlight, hoping to catch predatory demons before they came close enough to harm the group…

That was exactly how he managed to catch a faint whiff of one of his most dreaded adversaries: Kouga.

The hanyou stiffened and immediately looked to where Kagome was sitting beside Sango, her legs dangling in the water. She was talking amiably with the demon slayer while Miroku stood on the opposite bank, most of his robes shed in acknowledgement of the heat. Shippo was bounding in the stream, chasing minnows with Kilala.

Inuyasha's claws dug into the tree that supported him as he turned his head, bearing his fangs unconsciously, into the wind that had brought him a whiff of Kouga's stinky, accursed wolf-hide. He prayed silently that the wolf would spare him the pain of having to watch him flirt with Kagome—and vice versa—by missing their little motley crew completely…but of course his prayers went unanswered.

A sharp wind that was utterly unnatural started up and tore through the meadow, tearing twigs, dead grasses, and old leaves up in its wake. The whirlwind died as suddenly as it had appeared, but not before it had caught all of the Shard-hunter's attentions. When it had faded—in the middle of the clearing that the little stream Shippo had found for them earlier coursed lazily through—an arrogant Kouga was staring at them.

Immediately four of the six Shard-hunters cringed and started to move knowingly away from Kagome. Miroku scooped Shippo up out of the water and waded across the stream to join Sango who had Kilala in her arms, still dribbling cold water. All four of them looked nervously to where Inuyasha was perched, surely steaming at the wolf leader's arrival.

Kagome, meanwhile, was smiling uncomfortably, still resting her bare feet and calves into the fast flowing stream. "Uh…hi Kouga!" she greeted, faking her cheerful greeting and waving a little, halfheartedly.

Kouga took one look at what she was doing and scowled. His fists landed on his hips in a haughty, superior stance, his battle-ready look. "Where is that damn mutt-face, Kagome? He's just letting you sit there in that dangerous stream! Look at the current!" he dashed forward in the blink of an eye on his Jewel Shard enhanced legs and scooped her up into his arms even before his furred feet managed to splash.

Kagome squeaked in surprise and clung to him desperately, startled.

"Don't you worry, Kagome, you're my woman and I'd never drop you!" he announced, proudly, hiking her up higher in his grip, making Kagome squeak fearfully again and clutch a little more desperately.

"K-Kouga…" she murmured, catching her breath, "Take me to shore and out me down please."

"Anything for you Kagome!" true to his word the wolf demon crossed the stream and set her right at the base of where Inuyasha was glaring down at them, shaking in his effort to restrain his rage.

"Uh…thanks." She muttered, pretending to adjust her clothing to avoid staring up at the wolf's bright, expectant blue eyes. She probed the place where she'd grown accustomed to Inuyasha's link with her lying in wait within her mind but found it still closed off, as it had been all day and everyday for several days now…she swallowed nervously. _Where are you Inuyasha?_

Running out of options she looked up at the wolf leader and smiled as best she could, "So Kouga, what brings you this way? Come for some herbs from Kaede maybe?" she laughed at her stupid joke, knowing that Kouga had deserted his minions again just to come after her…_does he **really** want me to be his "woman," or is the real reason just because he wants to fight with Inuyasha?_

Little did she know but she was about to find out.

The wolf leader lifted his nose into the air and scoffed lightly at her question, "I came to see you, my woman, of course!" he looked quickly away, the blue eyes distinctly searching for something…but when he didn't find that familiar enraged flash of silver and red he looked back at Kagome and grinned, fangs and all, "I see mutt-face isn't here to waste our time…" he was clearly pleased by such news, Kagome noted, and around her courteous smile she threw the others—some feet away, all huddled in shock near the river—a look of desperation.

Sango dropped Kilala gently to the ground and stepped forward, offering a fake but courteous smile of her own, "Kouga! Well! Have you brought us news of Naraku?" her voice actually sounded hopeful and Kagome nearly sighed with relief when the demon slayer came to stand so close beside her that for Kouga to grab Kagome again would also mean he'd jar the innocent slayer.

Kouga looked confused—dim witted as usual, Inuyasha thought from his perch in the tree many feet above, silently praying that Kouga would smell him or _something_, draw him out to fight…_damn it! Why is it so bloody hard to let go of Kagome!_

"Naraku's still out there." Kouga answered the demon slayer with news that made all the Shard-hunters think: _Duh!_ But he redeemed himself by finishing with, "My pack has come across him a few times, but he flees us." Kouga smirked, "Without half of the Sacred Jewel he's a lot less confident nowadays." He snorted, "Almost kinda pathetic!"

"Really?" the smile Kagome threw Kouga this time was genuine. Her hand reached up and clutched the Jewel Shards that were clasped about her neck excitedly. She looked to Sango, "Can you believe it?" she grinned, "We're going to _do_ it! I _know _we are!" she threw her arms around the demon slayer and hugged her exuberantly.

Kouga watched beside them, still smirking. "Yes, Kagome," his chest seemed to inflate as he drew both young women's attentions again, _"I'm_ going to slay Naraku." He grinned again, "And with you at my side as my woman, there's no way we can fail!"

The schoolgirl and the demon slayer frowned together. "What?"

Kouga stepped forward, placing himself inside Kagome's personal space, making her cringe despite her best efforts otherwise. "I'm saying the time has come for me to take you back to my pack and claim you as my woman!" he reached toward her chest and Kagome screamed, immediately stepping backwards, assuming the worst even as Kouga's fingers closed around the necklace she wore that contained the Jewel Shards—which were mostly complete now and fused together into about three-quarters of a circle.

There was a flash of red and silver, a loud, low rumbling growl, and Inuyasha was between the two women and Kouga, snarling like a rabid dog. _"Keep your fucking paws away!"_

Kouga had a moment to blink before Inuyasha's clawed hands made contact with the wolf demon's chest, sending him sprawling backward straight into the stream with a huge splash. Water and earth and disturbed vegetation went flying in every direction.

As Sango gaped, dumbstruck, mirroring the more distant but otherwise identical expressions of the other Shard-hunters, Kagome jumped to her feet and threw her arms around Inuyasha's waist from behind. Her clutch was warm and frantic.

"Thank you Inuyasha." Her quiet words were both thought and spoken to him…and blinking, Inuyasha realized with no small amount of horror where he was…

Growling—at himself rather than her though she didn't need to know that—Inuyasha tore Kagome's arms off him and stomped toward the water-logged, but fast recovering wolf. Inwardly he raged at his own failing willpower: he'd vowed to let Kagome go…but the moment he'd heard the young miko's distress, felt her emotions through the link, he'd moved without thought—as if defending his mate. He'd reacted that way for years it was true, but never before had he allowed himself really to _think_ about _why_ he acted the way he did…it was just instinct. Only now when he was trying to stop it did he realize that it was like an addictive drug—_Kagome_ was like an addictive drug…

Behind him Kagome was shaking, confused and adrift. One hand clutched at her neck and she realized with a jolt that the Shards were gone…her wide, terrified eyes focused on Inuyasha's red robed, retreating form and she started to shake.

A terrible thought snuck into her mind: _He didn't come to rescue me from Kouga's advances…he came to save the Shards!_

That wasn't possible! He hadn't thought of her as the Shard-detector in a long time, and he'd stopped being obsessed with the Shards too—if it came between her safety and a Shard he'd always choose her…but he was so cold and uncaring! He'd turned away her every advance, tried to close off the link, ignored her…and moments ago when Kouga had been bothering her Inuyasha had been nowhere to be found, until, that is, the Shards were threatened. Normally he would've used every second he wasn't fighting Kouga to accuse her of flirting with him, like a jealous boyfriend.

_Now…it's like he doesn't want to care about me_…She started to quiver as the thought took hold, like a barbed hook, under her skin and stuck there stubbornly. Emotion followed swiftly behind it, and Kagome cracked under its weight.

A gripping, air stealing pain cut through her and Kagome crumpled to the ground, her shoulders shaking as she struggled to withhold her sobs. Sango was immediately at her side, trying to calm the girl…but she didn't understand the true source of the miko's grief, and though Kagome returned the demon slayer's warm, loving embrace, the pain inside her went on unabated.

Timidly, just to be sure, she touched on the place where the link, which Saishi had assured her was Inuyasha's demon version of a proposal of _marriage_, and found it still closed and dead to her…_I was right_…

Inuyasha reached the wolf, glaring hatefully at him and started to extend his clawed hand out for the other—but Kouga was by far faster. The wolf demon leapt to his feet and swiped Inuyasha in the face with one furred foot before landing again. The hanyou, caught off guard and on the day before his weakest time as a human, flew backwards and crashed into the ground. More dust and grass flew about in the hot, stifling air to mark where he had fallen.

Kouga spat water from the stream out of his mouth and in Inuyasha's direction. He wiped one arm across his brow and face, clearing the muck and grass from it. He lifted one clenched hand and his blue eyes caught the purple sheen of the Sacred Jewel, nearly complete…for a moment a hunger awoke in them and his normally handsome, simple face took on a darker, sinister, almost feral look. Perhaps he might've been influenced further by the Jewel's call if Inuyasha hadn't spoken then, capturing the wolf leader's full attention instead.

"Hey you mangy wolf!" he snarled, coughing a little on the dust from his landing, "What was the big idea! I wasn't attacking your hairy-ass…"

Kouga pushed his nose arrogantly into the air. "I was evening the score, dog-breath. Besides—why the hell did you attack _me_ when I was talking to _my_ woman?"

Inuyasha crossed his arms obstinately, "Feh! Go bother someone else Kouga!"

Kouga flashed his interlocked teeth at Inuyasha in an expression that was close to being savage, "I've come to claim my woman! With her ability to detect the Shards and my speed and strength we'll avenge my slain kin together, just as I always planned." He snorted once, noticing that Inuyasha was steadily getting angrier, "You can tag along dog boy, if you have the guts."

"Like hell! If _anyone_ has a score to settle here it's us! You and your mangy pack and kin and whoever the hell else can all kiss my ass!"

"You think you can stop me, mongrel?" Kouga snorted, fists on his hips, "You don't stand a chance!" he sniffed in, deeply once, and Inuyasha's face paled as he realized what the wolf was doing…

Kouga's blue eyes pinned the hanyou with a knowing stare, "Besides, this isn't your night, _half_-demon. You're going to die tonight, if you try to fight me." he raised one clenched fist and cracked the knuckles, grinning in a fierce delight that came hand in hand with combat.

Inuyasha reached for Tetsusaiga, his fangs bared at the miserable wolf, his ears turned backward…and then he stopped, feeling the link he shared with Kagome pulsing strangely. He froze, drawn inward by the _need_ to investigate…instantly he felt her grief flow over him, felt the tightness and the dizzying emotions that coursed through her. The scent of her tears hit him like a wall and he let go of where his clawed fingers had grasped Tetsusaiga's hilt.

He jerked his head to look behind him and saw Sango's form bent over Kagome's fragile, sobbing body…_oh hell_! He remembered the vow he'd made to himself, that he would let her go—he knew that fighting with Kouga only made Kagome miserable…_I'm so sorry Kagome_…he thought at her, loosening his hold on the link a little, though her mind was too absorbed by her grief to notice…

"Stupid dog turd!" (A/N: How on earth do you spell "turd?" My computer refuses to recognize it…)

Kouga's shout caught Inuyasha by surprise and as he whirled around instinct told him that he was already doomed…the wolf demon's fist contacted with the hanyou's face just as he turned round to face it and Inuyasha was thrown backward—_hard_—into the earth. This time in the aftermath, as the disturbed debris settled back to the ground, Inuyasha didn't get up. Kouga sniffed once and caught the hanyou's tangy blood in the air and smirked with satisfaction.

"Now to claim my woman!"

* * *

Endnote: AOL is acting up again guys, so leaving everyone a note is going to be really hard, I'll try to tackle the important questions nonetheless...and I KNOW you're all just hating me about now, considering this NASTY cliffy (smirks) I actually, though you'll never believe me, didn't design it this way. The Kouga chapter was all one chapter originally but then i realized that it was just TOO long...so I took the first place that presented itself as a complete chapter and made it look intentional...hehe...yes, I know I AM evil...I apologize...I'd leave a preview too but sadly I have been robbed even of that b/c my computer (Yes, just to top off my day right?) is refusing to go anywhere on the Internet short of MSN, and it's an MSN page from APril 28 oddly enough...I think the computer needs serious work or something but as usual it decides to go mental on me while my dad is away...(sighs) SO I'm doing this from a different computer... 

THANK YOU TO ALL REVIEWERS: Q's and A's:**_Tiamath_**(That's an interesting thought, and yes, it could well apply, and no you're wrong, it DOES make sense to me! (snickers) I understood what you were saying, and as usual you're very sharp and full of good ideas...the myth is essentially open to interpretation so yes, you could be dead on...) **_Yami Chikara_**(Yes, she did find an interesting picture...) **_D-Chan3_**(A good thought, very dramatic, but b/c he has Tetsusaiga with him it's unlikely...also about the myth, the insinuation is that Kagome is an ancestor, possibly, not a descendent...unless, of course, the Higurashis are all part demon as well, which would make Inuyasha an ancestor...and it just gets uncomfortable from there...just like the thought of Kagome being the Higurashi familyancestor it makes me cringe...mind boggling...I just went cross-eyed. Good thoughts anyway though...)

Until next time, when hopefully my computer isn't barfing on me and I feel a little less melancholy...ugh...spelling...thank you all!


	14. Kouga

**Disclaimer:** Nope

**A/N:** This is the conclusion from last chapter's horrendous cliffy of course. Internet problems kept me from getting this out sooner. Thunderstorms have rolled through here every few hours for the last day and a half. My brilliant little sister left the computer on downstairs, which is connected to the modem...thus it shorted it out and made it think it was disconnected from its power. UntilI unblugged the darn thing to make it see its error. So we now have Internet...but as usual it still will flake out conveniently while I'm struggling to update it soI have to unplug the router then. (sighs) and by then it's eaten my updates as if I never made them...you get it, right? It's a pain, like the price of ownership. Anyway... **Potty Mouth Warning** I think I'm going to instate a short-term sytem to tell you what makes a chapter difficult, something like this:  
**PMW:** Potty Mouth Warning...or...  
**BGW:** Blood and guts warning...  
More to be added likely in the future, those are the first that come to mind though...in _WOAWO_ there'd be a **LBW** for Low Blow Warning for sure becuase of the things Inuyasha says to Sesshomaru there...hehe...anyway...Kouga's behavior here felt okay to me, I hope that no one severely disagrees with me. Seriously I like him. He's cute, in a rugged manly, wolfish way. But Faced with rejection I didn't see him exposing anything but...is brevado a good term? I think it just might be. Anyway, that's that. Mrs. H and Souta's story is beginning to get very interesting everyone...hehe...read, reviewand enjoy! I command you! Naw, just kidding (smirks)

**

* * *

**

**Kouga**

He sauntered forward to where Kagome and Sango were still wrapped around each other, one of them sobbing, the other trying to wipe the tears away from her friend's face—but he never quite got there. A valiant little kitsune leapt up onto his shoulder, making Kouga pause and blink stupidly for a moment barely long enough that Shippo was able to make his attack…

"FOX FIRE!" Blue green flames enveloped the wolf demon as Shippo bounded away, his emerald eyes wide in panic.

Cursing, and swiping at the flames, Kouga easily escaped them, though his black hair was a little blacker now than it had been before and a little less shiny with the singes the kit's attack had left.

"What the hell was that?" he grumbled, blue eyes searching—until he found himself facing the very angry, violet-eyed Miroku and a roaring, transformed Kilala, baring her massive, saber-like canines.

"What's all this?" he demanded, readying himself for another fight. He'd never had to face the whole mob of Shard-hunters, only Inuyasha who held a particular grudge because the wolf demon had stepped on Inuyasha's toes early in his acquaintance with Kagome.

Shippo jumped up on the fire-cat's back, doing his best to appear fierce. "You can't take Kagome away when she doesn't want to go!" he shouted, growling in clear imitation of Inuyasha.

Kouga's posture loosened a little then and he scoffed. "I understand you don't want to see Kagome go—but honestly, you're all as bad as that stupid mutt over there!" he gestured with his chin at the unconscious and bleeding hanyou. "I promise I'll let her say goodbye to you all _and_ she'll even visit!" he started to step forward again but Kilala snarled menacingly and the wolf paused, scowling.

Miroku took the moment to intercede, stepping into Kouga's path with a jangle from his golden staff. "Kouga," he murmured, bowing slightly with respect and holding his staff aside to show his peaceful intentions, "I don't think that you quite understand but…" he frowned, "Let me put this plainly—Kagome doesn't _want_ to go with you."

Kouga snorted, unimpressed and unbelieving; "Of course she does!" his tone indicated that Miroku's words were the stupidest, craziest proposal that he'd heard in a long, long time.

"I'm sorry, Kouga, but Kagome doesn't like you." Miroku tried again…and failed.

"I know she doesn't like me—she _loves_ me." the wolf's eyes were beginning to narrow with annoyance.

"No," Miroku sighed, violet eyes closing briefly in exasperation, "She doesn't love you at all."

Shippo hopped onto his shoulder, startling the monk into alertness again. "Yeah—Miroku's right. Kagome loves Inuyasha."

Kouga was sneering, "That _mongrel?"_ he started to push past them, snarling, "That's ridiculous, Kagome could do so much better! And she has, because she's _my_ woman!"

The monk, the kitsune, and the fire-cat allowed him to pass, each one of them speechless with how dense the wolf was. There was only one thing left to try now…from Miroku's shoulder Shippo yelled, "Okay Kouga—ask her yourself if you don't believe us!"

Fists on his hips arrogantly Kouga came to a stop beside where Kagome and Sango were still together, one sobbing, the other trying to comfort. "Well Kagome—it's time we beat it. These twerps you travel with are weird…" he looked back down at her crumpled form and smelled the tears for the first time—he also met Sango's very angry gaze.

"What?"

"You insensitive bastard!" Sango yelled, letting go of the sobbing Kagome to rise so that she was nearly equal with Kouga. The wolf blinked at her, taken by surprise. "Can't you see how _unhappy_ Kagome is that you're here!" she demanded, delicate but at once powerful fists bunching up at her sides.

Kouga easily scented the rage flowing off the mortal woman and he admired her strength silently, but dismissed her words. "I'll comfort her when we're in my cave…alone. Away from here."

Sango looked as if she might explode, but somehow she managed to contain herself. Finally she took a deep breath and asked, in a dangerously quiet voice, "What would it take for you to understand that Kagome isn't interested in you—that she's already in love with someone else…?"

Kouga blinked stupidly. "It wouldn't matter." He answered, blandly, "Unless he had a claim on her—whether he was human or demon—I could still take her as my woman."

The demon slayer was as red as the fiercest sunset, "Kagome's opinion never enters into this?" she shouted the question, a little of her spittle flying into the wolf demon's face as she did.

To her credit the powerful leader cringed and moved back a step. Blank in the face of Sango's protective wrath, all he could do was mutter, "She's a woman—a bitch." It was the male wolf demon's equivalent to: "Duh…?"

"I'll kill him myself!" Sango shrieked, ready to lunge at him and throttle the wolf demon just as she'd promised, but she stopped when a small, warm hand landed on her shoulder, restraining her. Both slayer and the wolf demon looked to see Kagome's red, tear-streaked face, sniffling as she stood at Sango's side. To Sango she _looked_ miserable. To Kouga she _smelled_ miserable.

Both of them cringed.

"Kagome…?" Sango reached out questioningly to her friend only to have her hand brushed away, gently but firmly.

The young miko's eyes met Kouga's with an inner fire that normally she reserved for sitting Inuyasha. "Give me back the Shards." She muttered, thrusting out one hand for the said objects.

Kouga hesitated a moment and then did as she asked, watching as she secured them back about her neck and then hid them underneath her clothes. While she did this Kouga ventured, actually sounding uncertain, his question: "Are you ready to come and join my pack as my woman…?"

She looked up at him, deep, dark, tear-ridden eyes clearly speaking the answer non-verbally, though she knew better than to trust Kouga's judgment. "Go back to your pack, Kouga. Go and take Ayame as your woman." She whispered, quietly, "I don't want to be your woman."

For a moment Kouga looked as if he might start to sob too, and the Shard-hunters, Kagome included, even felt a little sorry for him. But Kagome's rejection hardly phased the wolf after a moment. His face cleared and took on a dangerous, hard edge. His lips drew into a thin line; his jaw muscles tightened and stuck out. The blue eyes seemed to darken several shades.

"It doesn't matter what you say, Kagome." He half-growled, "Unless someone else has claimed you—you will be mine."

Sango's mouth fell open wide and worked the air, trying to say something but too stunned and outraged to do so. The others were mimicking her dumbstruck expression, and thus were useless…Kagome was on her own, but fortunately she was thinking fast.

"I _have_ been claimed." she tried to bury her doubts about it to be convincing…_just for these few moments pretend_…

Kouga's blue eyes narrowed, though not with anger directed at Kagome, but instead for the unlucky man—human or demon—who had claimed her. "Who, and _how?"_

Kagome blinked, unsure of herself suddenly. How could she show him the link? Did it even qualify? Despite her inner fears she thrust her chin into the air and answered, "Inuyasha and I are linked."

The wolf demon's sneer grew several times over with disgust—and then abruptly changed as he leaned closer to her and sniffed a few times, making Kagome cringe and step backwards. But when the wolf withdrew, his face was triumphant. "A link?" he snarled, looking to where Inuyasha's red robed form was still out cold, he snorted. "He hasn't consummated it…"

The schoolgirl blanched, reeling as she absorbed those words and their meaning, and backed into Sango. Kagome might have been out of clever ideas, but thankfully Sango had come to her senses. "It's the truth, Kouga," she snapped, and the wolf's blue gaze turned to her instead, sharply, "I've seen them share each other's illnesses, each other's thoughts…" she let him think about that for a moment before she threw in the important thought: "If you take Kagome with you and separate her from Inuyasha, she'll _die…"_

Kouga snarled, sounding very much like a wolf, but he withdrew, his face a mask of fury and frustration. "Damn!" he snarled, tearing away from the group as suddenly as he'd arrived. They watched, frozen, as the wolf crossed the stream in a single easy leap and turned round to face them one last time, shouting: "Until mutt-face takes her—_I will be waiting for you Kagome_…you'll realizethat dog-turdis a mistake! And then you'll be _mine!"_

A swirl of dust, grasses, last season's leaves, and perhaps a little of the wolf leader's own demonic aura rose up and covered Kouga's escape, rustling the tree branches and carving up the earth in a few places…and then finally the stifling hot afternoon air fell still once more.

The nightmare was over…for the time being.

* * *

His nose hurt like _hell._ That was the first thing Inuyasha was aware of when he woke up…the second was that his ears were attached to the sides of his head and were immobile—thus it was fairly accurate to conclude that he was human and night had fallen…_who the hell was I fighting again? _He searched his memory and felt as if he would be sick when it came to him: Kouga had come to claim Kagome and he had vowed not to interfere in the process…and then had promptly failed himself. 

…And then there had been Kagome's terrible grief and pain. He would've whimpered at the memory, if he had still been half dog demon.

He forced himself up with the aid of one hand and moaned in pain with the movement. He'd forgotten how painful being human was. It always reminded him of what the others had to deal with _everyday_…he always came back with a profound new respect for them—though of course he never mentioned it to them. To be as good as blind in the dark, to feel as if his nose were stuffed with cloth all night, his ears clogged with plugs…the only thing that humans seemed to possess a sharper sense of was perhaps touch, and emotional things…

_Is that why my body hurts so damn bad?_ He cursed under his breath, trying to feel his back for blood or bandages and blinking through the darkness, trying to make out where he was. With a start he realized that he wasn't wearing anything over his chest and there really was something shoved up his nose! When he pulled the stuff free—cottony gauze from Kagome's first aid kit—a trickle of warm fluid escaped one nostril and dribbled onto his chest and hands: blood.

"Ah…shit." He swore, sniffling the stuff back only to find out that that hurt a lot. It also failed to help the bleeding. Defeated, he wadded up the gauze and pushed it into his nose again, grumbling to himself with the pain and embarrassment of such an injury.

"So you're among the living again, Inuyasha."

The hanyou turned to face the source of the voice, briefly shielding his eyes from the brightness of a fire and made out just afterwards the shapes of his friends. All were sleeping but Miroku, who was standing a short distance from the firelight. The monk was keeping watch, apparently.

His golden staff jangled as he walked forward to sit beside the hanyou. "You're still bleeding." His tone was one of surprise as he settled on Inuyasha's left, staring at the fire and the circle of sleeping figures—the majority of which were female.

Inuyasha did his best to snort through the gauze—and regretted it. "Yeah." He muttered; his voice sounding clogged through the disabled nose. His eyes roved over the sleeping forms until he found the one he was searching for with a sigh, a sound that he chose to express through his open mouth rather than let any of it pass through his nose.

"Yes," Miroku muttered, nodding carefully once into the silence, as if answering a question.

Inuyasha looked toward the monk with one eyebrow lifted, a scowl preparing to cover his features should his friend be mocking him and thus be deserving of a beating. "Are you imitating me?" he mumbled, grumpily.

Miroku blinked and then frowned, "No! Why would I want to do that, Inuyasha? No, I was just answering your question…"

"I didn't ask a question." The hanyou reminded him, though he looked away from the violet eyes, and away from the flicker of the orange-red firelight, almost guitily.

"I know you didn't do it _out loud_, but I could tell you wanted to know—the answer is yes, Kagome stayed with us, she didn't take off with Kouga."

He growled, irritated, "Lay off Miroku!"

The monk raised his hands, palms outward and pale in the firelight, innocently. "I didn't say anything…" but he smirked when the hanyou looked back at him again in silent warning, and decided to goad him anyway, "My, my! You're certainly touchy! It's no wonder Kagome is so miserable all the time."

"If you don't shut the hell up real soon I'm gonna havfta beat your ass." He grumbled, glaring at his companion nastily—though the bright white wads of gauze sticking out of his nostrils diminished the effect, making him almost comical instead.

The monk sighed, leaned back a little. His staff jangled, caught and reflected light from the firelight. There was a long pause, during which Inuyasha briefly maintained the fantasy that he'd thrown Miroku off-track, only to be jolted from that idle hope when a new, but still very dangerous topic was brought up, casually—_too_ casually. "So…you want to know how things went with Kouga?"

The hanyou ground his teeth together, glad that he didn't have fangs for the moment. Fangs would've made such jaw clenching topics close to painful, but without canine teeth to get caught on the teeth of the bottom jaw, Inuyasha could do as much of it as he wanted. Despite the alarm bells going off inside his skull, Inuyasha cleared his throat and answered: "Sure, why wouldn't I? You guys kill that mangy wolf without me?"

Miroku sighed, shook his head. "Nope, but Kagome and Sango scared him off…" the monk's cursed right hand lifted to his chin, as if deep in thought, though Inuyasha suspected it was a ruse, "Kagome was really upset…"

Inuyasha winced inwardly, but forced himself to show no outward signs of it. His stare lingered on the young miko across the fire, his now human-colored eyes flickering orange with the firelight. His lack of a response to Miroku told the monk enough: the topic was a forbidden and private one—if he were smart enough to follow that cue.

"I think you'd find what Kouga said to Kagome before he left very interesting…" he baited, violet eyes still on the fire, fingertips of the cursed right hand still at his chin. He was filled with an inner triumph when Inuyasha looked over at him, lips pursed. _C'mon Inuyasha, fall for the bait and tell me whatever's going on in that thick head of yours…_

While Inuyasha had been unconscious he, Shippo, Sango, even Kilala had all tried to comfort the very distraught Kagome. They'd learned that Inuyasha had seemingly pulled away from her, and hadn't pursued her the way he should've as an inu-hanyou seeking a mate. He hadn't spoken with her about the link, he hadn't sought intimacy with her, and he hadn't openly shared his emotions with her either. _Is it possible for any kind of demon, half or otherwise, to get cold feet? Is the link he started with her reversible?_ None of them could say, but Kagome's desperate pain grabbed them all, made them each want to scream at Inuyasha for his stubbornness.

Now the monk was trying to delve into his companion's thick skull—with thus far no success.

With a sigh Inuyasha finally did take the bait. "What did Kouga say?" it was spoken with a tone of exhaustion, of a despair that Miroku didn't understand. _Where's his jealousy? Where's the mad raving hanyou we all know?_

"He told Kagome that he would be waiting for her—that she didn't have a choice about being _his_ woman…"

Immediately Inuyasha's sagged, defeated shoulders stiffened, and Miroku sensed the deep and primal rage of his dogged jealousy right below the currently human hanyou's skin. His un-clawed fists clenched up, his jaw tightened, but his stare remained focused across the light of the campfire as he finally spoke, his voice an outraged, growled whisper: "That _mangy-ass, brainless piece of shit!"_

Miroku smirked, "I thought you'd say that."

The hanyou's glare turned on the monk now, dangerously, "I'll _kill_ him the next time he fucking tries to—"

With feigned surprise Miroku laid a hand on Inuyasha's shoulder, eyes wide, "Are you sure, Inuyasha? I mean, it's not as if you have plans to do anything with Kagome like Kouga wants to…"

With a snarl that was, despite the moonless sky that night, decidedly dog-like, Inuyasha slapped Miroku's hand away, "Don't start with me!"

The monk abandoned his bad acting and narrowed his own eyes on the hanyou, forcing a sternness into his features to intimidate his companion. "Inuyasha," he shifted the staff carefully, trying to keep it from jangling too loudly, and gestured at the sleeping figures of the women across the fire, "Why is it you haven't been open with Kagome? You're _hurting_ her." He put special emphasis on the word "hurting" to make sure that he could guilt the hanyou's protective, guard-dog like instincts.

Inuyasha surprised the monk by jumping to his feet, turning carefully away so that nothing but his back, red robes nearly as dark now as his shining, black curtain of human hair showed to the monk. He uttered only one strangled syllable: "Feh!"

"Don't turn your back on me, Inuyasha." He warned, his voice cold and quiet, despite the growing irritation he felt stirring within him on the young miko's behalf. Miroku's hands tightened over his staff until his knuckles turned white. "Don't turn your back on Kagome either—_you_ started all of this."

Inuyasha whirled on him, eyes blazing with rage, "I didn't _fucking_ close that well off!" he hissed.

"No one's saying you did. But there sure are some things you have done, and a few you haven't that need to be done." Leveling his staff at the hanyou he added his clincher: "Only the male demon can instigate a link as you have!"

The hanyou froze, his face momentarily stunned into a stony wall of nothing. Then he stiffened, took a step back from the still sitting monk and snorted, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" His arms crossed slowly, meaningfully, over his broad, although currently human chest. His dark eyes pinned the monk suspiciously, and with a jolt Miroku realized that he'd made a mistake…

_Damn. He's never told us about the link, we figured it out on our own._

There was nothing for it: Miroku had to come out with the truth. Sighing heavily he raised the staff again, letting it rest against his shoulder. "There's nothing you can do to hide it, Inuyasha. Kagome has talked with Sango and Sango has told me of it. While we were in the temple I took the time to consult the monks' archives as well…"

Inuyasha had stiffened, his face a warped mask that couldn't seem to decide upon a proper emotion to show the other man. He opened his mouth once, as if to speak, and then silenced himself in favor of letting Miroku continue to expose what he already knew.

"You and Kagome both were ill at the same time. Sango, Shippo and I clearly saw it." Miroku dipped his head once, the staff jangled a little with his movement, "I don't know why you feel you must hide this from us, Inuyasha…" he looked up again, his violet eyes utterly serious, keeping Inuyasha's anxious, tense, slightly guilty gaze locked with his own. "We're _supposed_ to be a team—your friends…"

Growling as low and deeply as he could with completely human lungs and vocal cords, Inuyasha turned hurriedly away from Miroku, his emotions conflicting within himself. Part of him wanted to open up to the monk, while another part of him wanted to argue with him instead. Still a third part of him wanted to just escape him. Anger had always been Inuyasha's friend, and he had learned to cover everything else with it just long enough that he could escape the situation.

That was what he thought to do now—Miroku could see the hanyou's stiffened, tense body language, and he knew that his words had failed to reach Inuyasha…but Miroku was a determined man, as one might be able to tell from his incessant groping. He didn't give up easily.

Over one shoulder Inuyasha grunted, "Feh! I don't have to talk to you about something fucked up." He started to move outside of the circle of the campfire's flickering light, but Miroku's words were quicker than Inuyasha's feet this night.

"Kagome told Kouga about the link."

The red robed figure paused, still stiff. Finally he grunted one word. "What?"

"She made Kouga leave by telling him about the link…she told him _you_ had claimed her." He paused briefly, trying to read the hanyou's body language before he added, "Will you turn her into a liar when Kouga comes back for her?"

He watched Inuyasha's every breath carefully, waiting for something that would reveal whether or not the hanyou had listened to him. Inuyasha's shoulders sagged almost tiredly and he walked into the darkness outside the firelight without a word. In a moment he'd scaled a tree and left the monk only his companion's profile to stare at.

Miroku's fists clenched up with irritation but he said and did nothing. The violet eyes drifted from the view of Inuyasha's distant, withdrawn form in the tree to the sleeping figures across the fire. His lips narrowed pensively, his knuckles grasping the staff were bleached white.

Still as stone Miroku listened to Kilala purring in her sleep, snuggled into Sango's curves. Shippo mumbled in his sleep, something that sounded suspiciously like "Chocolate." Kagome whimpered in her sleep and Miroku narrowed his eyes when one hand drifted away from where she'd been holding Shippo to grip her stomach.

Immediately Miroku jerked his gaze back to where he'd last seen the hanyou's silhouette—only to see with a jolt that Inuyasha was gone.

* * *

"Yes, this is Souta Higurashi speaking, from the Higurashi Shrine. Uh…is Mr. Jiro Keshikaran available?" 

I watched Souta's shaking hands as he shifted the phone, his eyes carefully averting mine while he waited, listening to the voice on the other end of the line. I tried, uselessly, to ignore the flip-flops my stomach was doing inside me.

It was growing dimmer outside, the bright afternoon light of hours ago having faded into the mature; gold that announces the sun's inevitable departure for the day. It was close to six o'clock. Souta and I had been making call after call to strangers that we'd ever met before who were scattered all over Tokyo—and all over Japan as well for that matter—all of them bearing the name Keshikaran. Each time Souta spoke to one of them he began by using our last name, hoping for some recognition. After that he went into asking about their family legend and a certain Asa Keshikaran who had related it in the 1800s.

So far we'd found just about nothing—though the Keshikarans seemed to be a mistrusting bunch, a nervous group. They held their secrets. Generally once Souta mentioned the Tetsusaiga family to them, or the legend, they insisted that they had other important business to attend to and hung up. Part of me wanted to think it was suspicious, and to take hope out of it, the rest of me was certain that they were only treating us like telemarketers.

Souta's eyes finally met mine when Jiro Keshikaran answered the phone. "Yes, Mr. Keshikaran?" he asked, his voice gentle and encouraging, "I'm Souta Higurashi from the Higurashi Shrine in Tokyo." He cleared his throat a little while I wrung my hands nervously together, "I wanted to ask you a few questions about a certain myth we have in our records."

When Souta paused I heard a babbling, high voice of the phone humming away—and felt my spirits drop. It sounded negative, a fast-paced "I'm sorry but I don't have time for you right now." I watched Souta chew his lower lip and his eyes averted mine again. Yes, it was another wasted call, another Keshikaran who either refused, didn't care, or didn't know what we were asking.

"That's all right, sir. Thank you for your—" Souta blinked for a moment mutely and then frowned at the phone. "He hung up on me before I was done saying goodbye!" he huffed and put the phone back down on the receiver, "How rude! I think the whole Keshikaran lot is like this!"

I reached out, grabbing his hand in mine, squeezing it, "Should we try the Tetsusaigas?"

Souta's face was grim. He pulled his hand away. "The Keshikarans related the myth a long time ago…" he shrugged weakly, "I think the Tetsusaiga family will be even worse than these Keshikarans."

Sighing I nodded at him, letting my thoughts whirl inside my head, going over and over what we'd learned this day, trying to find whatever was bothering me about it…there was _something_ we were doing just slightly wrong…

It hit me like a hammer as I heard Souta mutter the next name on the list under his breath, starting to dial the numbers, carefully. "Mr. Ken Keshikaran of Kyoto…"

Without thinking about it I slammed my fingers over the phone's cradle and immediately cut Souta's dial tone off. He looked up at me, scowling, "Mom…?"

"We're doing this wrong Souta…" I pointed to the names, "They're all men we've called. The Keshikaran that related the myth was a _woman…"_

He scowled at me, "Mom, I don't see how that matters at all!"

"I think it does, Souta…" I ran a finger down the list, searching carefully for an unmarried woman of the Keshikaran clan. There were about three of them, two of them were local residents of Tokyo. I tapped my finger on their names, "Call these two next, Souta."

He squinted at the list as I let go of the hook for the phone, letting his dial tone return. "Keshikaran Kari and Keshikaran…" at his stutter I looked down at the second name he was trying to read and felt my heart stop.

Souta looked up at me, the phone now clutched so tightly in his fist that I could see his knuckles were completely white with the pressure. "Mom…" he shook his head, his face pale, "It's just coincidence…"

I forced myself to nod. "Just coincidence." I agreed, though my stomach was tight inside me, I felt like I might vomit for sure. My heart was beating in my own ears so loudly I thought it might explode.

He lifted the phone up to his ear and started dialing. "I'll call Miss Kari Keshikaran first…and then you can call…" his voice died, his fingers shook as they pressed the numbers for the phone number he was dialing. He couldn't bring himself to say her name…so I did it for him.

"I'll call Miss Kagome Keshikaran."

* * *

Endnote: I like this new FFnet review alert for specific stories thinger...It makes this part a lot easier, a lot faster...As usual I love everyone! (bows low) How could I not write when there are such wonderful readers and reviewers? I'll take the silence as the answer--there's nada excuses... 

THANK YOU: _**NefCanuck**_ (I hope I "done good" by it...this isn't a cliffy technically is it? (whimpers) I try to leave it off at okay points...yes, last chapter was mean though, I know what you're thinking...) _**toxiclollipop**_ (Hmm...really? See I think he's complicated enough to have multiple reasons for liking Kagome. He probably finds her attractive enough, yes, but there's these other levels to him that cast a negative shadow sometimes...like the fact that he'll consider attacking youngsters, both human and demon, he ridicules Inuyasha as he's a half-demon, which makes little sense b/c his children with Kagome as "his woman" would be half-demons too...but aside from that he originally, I think, took interest in her b/c she could sense Shards. So although in this story he wasn't trying to take and keep them really, they are still on his mind, that was why I had him do that. I think besides being a potential "mate" Kagome is a valuable ally--AND there's the added bonus that flirting with Kagome makes Inuyasha mad as a wet hen...ooo I jabbered a while, eh? Just your review got me thinking, which is a very good thing, thank you!) **FanstasyFreak** (I know(sheepish smile)... ... evil cliffy...did I do better this time?) _**SerenaClearwater**_(I'll miss you! Honestly I will! And thank you for sharing the spellings! Hehe...I have trouble believing that it's not a word as far as my WORD program says anyway...apparently Bill Gates doesn't like that word as my dad would say...) **_heather _**(That's gotta be confusing though...I mean, that makes Inuyasha sorta techinically her great great great granfather something. So she's...related to him. That's like the time paradoxes. Once, b/c we think that our pure bred yellow lab named Laddie is a bit inbred and dull as a result, we made a way from his brother to be his father and his cousin...it took a long time but when we finally got the relationship figured we actually called to harass my mom on our cell phones, since the dog is hers but has proved to be nothing but trouble with allergies and sores in his feet and he's afraid of rain even though he's supposed to be a hunting dog...Yep...just something wrong with him...his mother knew her brother-father-son-cousin a little too well.) _**stardragon12**_ (hey! Are you new? or a ghost? Either way welcome! Hehe...sorry again about the cliffy...and what can I say? We've always known he was stubborn, but I've watched and seen love get the better of what a person thinks is "higher" judgment or rational thought...so it can happen...) **_Inuadmirer_**(Good question. Inuyasha was in the tree when Kouga came, I think that made a difference. The wind was likely in Inuyasha's favor, though his scent might also have diminished as the new moon was approaching. I saw one episode where Kouga breezes through takes a whiff of Inuyasha and asks why he smells different, on the day before the new moon comes, so I know his scent changes. Partly I think it was that Kouga wasn't looking that hard for Inuyasha. Normally Inuyasha comes right to him and fights him off, or tries to anyway. Kouga was focused primarily on Kagome...other wise...it's just "my bad" (sheepish grin)) **sarah** (well he hasn't got her yet...and personally I don't think Inuyasha has the willpower to stay away from Kagome...he'll try but...) **_SlummyRedDragon _**(Hey you! Thanks! I'm getting upgraded to "awesome" now...(snickers)) **_Yami Chikara_** (hehe, if Mrs. H and Souta picqued your interest before I can hardly imagine what they're doing to you now! hehe...but don't worry, there's LOTS more to happen in the Feudal era...) **_fanfiction1_** (they're going to have a little chat soon, don't you worry, and although he tries to run away from his feelings for Kagome Inuyasha would never leave her for dead, never, not unless he were dead already too or unable to help her in some other way...and thank you for the compliment on the story of Chikara and Inudoushi. (bows) And you're right...turd is the strangest word! (huffs)) _**inuyasha'sbabe07 **_(Inuyasha was trying, unsuccessfully, to think of what might've been best for Kagome. He was trying to let her choose whether she wanted Kouga or not by avoiding fighting with him, which probably freaked Kagome out too...(snickers) you make a fine observation by saying that it was odd b/c it IS unlike his normal behavior. He's trying to give her what might be better for her he imagines, by pretending that he isn't jealous and that he'd allow her a choice...but the moment Kouga moved to touch her and alarm her as he grabbed the Shards Inuyasha couldn't help himself of course...good to hear from you! Hope to hear more!) _**Tiamath**_ (I owe you a BIG favor! I myself had thought of wondering that, just how long would've passed, but my math skills are horrendous and...as my sister quotes: "I died." I'm going to take your estimate and run with it (grins) I hope you don't mind? Hehe...I'm dreading the college math placement exam thinger...(vomits into a corner) Oh and did I mention I can imagine you shaking your laptop in frustration? Hehe...you give me the greatest images (snickers)) Well that's all folks, cept for the preview of course!

_"Inuyasha called her." Shippo announced, frowning. "Mommy used to do it to daddy when I got into trouble and she wanted him to spank me." _

_Miroku snorted, unable to cover or bury his mirth. Sango narrowed her eyes at him, "This is not the time for your lechery…" she warned. _

_He couldn't resist of course. "Perhaps Inuyasha has decided that he would like to be spanked…" _

Hehe...Until next time guys...I know...bad preview, eh?


	15. The Call

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Inuyasha...well...let's just say that my desk chair would be a lot more expensive and it wouldn't hurt my tush so much to sit on it! So to make a long story short I own zilch here, not Inuyasha or Kagome or Miroku or Sango or Shippo or Kilala. All I own are a few spare novels, some Bath and Body Works sprays and downstairs my Mom owns a big, FAT old yellow lab who whines like a broken record or a skipping CD becuase she thinks she's starving...can you tell I'm feeling chatty today?

**A/N:** Ah well, today I have a lot of interesting notes I think...In this chapter there's nothing but the Feudal era part of this story, no language warnings as I recall b/c Inuyasha is softer here (not as soft as you and I want him to be but he is a little better than last chapter) This is the long-needed talk between Kagome and Inuyasha about this link, and what it means and what to do about it. **Remember:** anything in _(blah blahb blah whatever stuff!)_ is Inuyasha or Kagome hearing their partner's thoughts, usually on accident.

As requested by**Tiamath** (Good request too!) the Japanesenames being used in this story will be translated here(all of the meanings I got from a website dictionary. Some spellings I have changed slightly, most often dropping a "u" to make something shorter, like we see in the dubbed anime names like Kouga vs. Koga or Shippou vs. Shippo.) **Translation of the Japanese names I've been using:**  
Saishi: Clever man  
Inudoushi: Dog-Spirit  
Chikara: Power, strength  
Keshikaran: Outrageous...this family related the Tetsusaiga family legend. They started when the firstborn daughter of the Tetsusaiga family(making the Keshikaran descendants grandchildren of the legendary Chikara and Inudoushi)married Tousakusha Kobiru. They changed their name when they married for reasons unknown at this time (by you guys, not by me (grins))  
Asa: Morning  
Tousakusha: Pervert  
Kobiru: Flirt  
A few of these haven't been used yet...more will be added. As they come I'll try to keep adding these...hehe, a few of them are pretty cool. Well I think that's it for me...remember to Read and Review to tell me how I'm doing! Encouragement is a good thing...(smirks) Enjoy!

**

* * *

**

**The Call**

_"Don't turn your back on Kagome…" "Why is it you haven't been open with Kagome? You're hurting her." "But you **should** explain yourself to **her**."_

The sun was beginning to crest over the distant horizon, and Inuyasha stared at it, his human eyes glowed, feral and untamed, in its growing light. Miroku and Saishi's words stung him, twisted and burned within him while his own instincts made war within him on each other.

_I want her, I love her—she feels the same way…but I don't deserve her and Kagome doesn't deserve the kind of life I live as a hanyou. So many dangers, so many enemies._

His jaw tightened as the first rays of sunlight reached over and through the trees, touched his human features…

_I'll outlive her. I'd outlive our pups damn it!_

His expression softened with pain—both internal and external—as the first sunrays ignited the youkai blood deep within him from its monthly sleep. It ravaged his cells, boosted their strength, changed him so fast that he bit his tongue to keep silent as the discomfort and pain whipped through him. It had always been that way—the youkai blood he had inherited from his father always re-established itself violently and so quickly that he was left with pain.

_But it's what we both want, isn't it? It's better for us to be happy together now…_

Silver-white strands spurted and glimmered, making him appear, for a moment, like a graying old man. His rounded, human ears pointed and grew, relocating themselves. The outer and inner structures changed, making the hanyou blink uncomfortably as the pain tore through his head. Ear canals bent and reshaped, light receptors in his eyes sprung alive again, nerve impulses flickered through his body, as if taking role call as the demon awoke once more within him.

Instincts flared to life, his heartbeat changed pace, carrying larger amounts of oxygen to his muscles. The hairs along his arms, legs, and the back of his neck stood on end.

_Kagome. Kagome. Kagome. Kagome._

He opened his eyes—amber now but with the same feral glow deep within as before. His ears twitched just once and then fell still once more. With what sounded almost like a sigh he took a long, deep breath, scenting the world around him as a half-demon could. His newly clawed fingers folded over Tetsusaiga. His lips pursed and his eyes narrowed with what was most certainly anger.

_Kagome. Kagome. Kagome—_

Growling like a dog disturbed in his sleep, Inuyasha forced the deep, possessive voice into silence, a little surprised at it—at himself. Her name had been repeated almost in time with his heartbeat, a chant—no, _a call…_

If he'd had fur it would've all been standing on end as Inuyasha resisted the shiver that coursed through him. The voice had come right after the change from human to half-demon was complete, and he recognized it as the violent, mindless part of him that dictated his most basic desires and instincts. The need to eat, to keep warm or clean, to survive, to fight…_to breathe_…all of the thoughtless, simple things. And now that simplistic, animal place within him had taken Kagome on as part of itself.

Inuyasha's ears folded backward, but the growl of annoyance that had begun in his throat ceased abruptly as a thought reached him: _At least I know now how the link started…_

If that mindless place inside him had begun the link it was easy for him to understand why he couldn't remember having made the decision himself. But what did it mean, that the inner, instinctual side had latched itself to the thought of Kagome as a mate? In truth Inuyasha knew next to nothing about demon courtship. His mother had never spoken of how his father had courted her—just that he had died protecting them both.

_"You and Kagome both were ill at the same time…"_ Inuyasha scowled at the memory of Miroku's words guiltily. He didn't understand what had been wrong with them both, didn't know whose illness had been whose. A few of Saishi's words floated back to him as well, making him shiver in the early morning sunshine: _"You are two halves of a whole. You must not fight this inevitability. If you do it will kill you both."_

_What does that mean…?_

Frustrated, Inuyasha's ears bent backward, his voice rose in a guttural growl of irritation and he shifted on the tree branch he was straddling. Determinedly he pushed his worried, confused thoughts of Saishi's words aside and focused on the situation with Kouga.

_"Will you turn her into a liar when Kouga comes back for her?"_ Miroku's words lingered and repeated through him, and Inuyasha scowled. He'd been determined not to hover over the schoolgirl like a guard dog…like her _mate_. She deserved to make her own choices…

_But she **accepted** my claim, she already chose._

He pushed the possessive voice away, scowling. He hadn't chosen to assert that claim; he hadn't made the conscious decision. Yes, he'd had less than "pure" thoughts about her before—though he'd never own up to them. Yes, he'd protected her for years without question. He'd hounded her, teased her, fought with her, missed her, kissed her, hugged her, dreamed about her, entertained the occasional fantasy…he'd cried for her, despite his shame at the weakness of it, when he'd thought he might've lost her.

And now…?

_She is my mate._

"No!" he shouted into the silence of the forest, startling the roosting birds somewhere in the delicate, thinner branches above him into taking flight. Their squeaks of surprise and reprimand made his already furious scowl deepen dangerously. A new thought came at him out of nowhere as the little vertebrates wheeled away…_Breakfast…_

Finally! The inner voice had turned to something he could handle! Inuyasha leapt from his tree perch and landed with a thump easily. He winced only slightly at the landing, but spared not even a moment for recovery as he cracked his knuckles, examined his claws. His mind drifted to thoughts of hunting and his heart picked up its pace instinctually in preparation.

He started to take a step forward—and then stopped as if he'd hit a wall…_Kagome's awake…she's been awake for a while_…

Golden eyes sprang wide with a mixture of shock and fear. _She's coming_…

* * *

_(I want her, I love her—she feels the same way…but I don't deserve her and Kagome doesn't deserve the kind of life I live as a hanyou. So many dangers, so many enemies.)_

Kagome moaned, her mind foggily returning to the sound of someone's voice—Inuyasha's she realized dimly—speaking in a regretful tone right inside her ear…

Alarmed, she sat up straight, blinking through the dim light of dawn, looking around. She frowned in confusion when she noted that Inuyasha was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh she bit her lip as her memory restored itself. Kouga's unwelcome visit. Her realization that the wolf demon had never really given her a choice as to whether she _wanted_ to be his "woman" or not. And then Inuyasha's strange lateness in confronting the wolf…

_(I'll outlive her. I'd outlive our pups damn it!)_

Her sharply inhaled breath made Shippo waken where he was snuggled into her. He blinked tired, newly opened eyes at her, the green orbs shimmering with innocence. "Kagome?" he tugged absently on her shirt, dragging her attention down to him.

The miko smiled, her mind calmed by the kit's normalness, his little, gentle paws and tiny clawed hands…but even that reminded her of the strange voice—Inuyasha's again—passing through her mind. It'd been a long time since the hanyou had willingly slipped up or allowed her to hear his thoughts. She'd sensed his growing control over the link during their visit to the temple. He allowed her only the most basic of observations from him. Where he was, his mood, his physical condition, that sort of thing. She had only succeeded in a slice of that control herself—but at the moment he was wide-open to her and she nearly frowned with confusion at that…

Shippo tugged on her shirt again, his expression now clearly worried, though he was still stifling a yawn, "Kagome? Are you all right?" he started to sniff the air about her, seeking anything obvious.

The schoolgirl stared at the kit's paws as he struggled to right himself a little, and she frowned momentarily. Inuyasha was thinking about pups somewhere out there…she raised one hand up and smiled down at the kit in her lap with a smile. "I'm fine, Shippo." She patted him and started to absently stroke his head. Unlike Inuyasha, who hated being at all treated or compared to a dog, Shippo _liked_ being stroked as if he were a kitten—or more accurately she supposed—a little fox kit.

He leaned into her touched and made a sound of pleasure rumble in his small chest, like a little kitten. "I'm glad!" he gushed, though his voice had a tired edge to it, "I dreamed that Kouga took you away from us!"

Her hand stilled. "What?"

Shippo met her eyes with tears shining in his own abruptly and threw himself into her, gripping her stomach and whimpering. "Don't _ever_ go with that stupid old wolf, Kagome!"

"I won't." her lips quirked in a mixture of sadness and amusement, and then her gaze clouded over as another thought flitted through her mind.

_(But it's what we both want, isn't it? It's better for us to be happy together now…)_

She blinked. What was he thinking about? Where was he…? A bitterness rose within her when she remembered his coldness the day before, the way she'd known he was nearby but had withheld himself from defending her from Kouga. Hadn't he known that she didn't want to deal with the wolf? She didn't _want_ him to come force her away…?

_No—all he knows is that I sit him when he tries to protect me. Maybe_… a violent hope rose within her suddenly. _Maybe he cares but was trying not to upset me…? I haven't been very patient with him lately…_

"Kagome?"

She looked down and found Shippo staring at her again, his little face still creased with worry for her. Smiling warmly, Kagome started stroking him again, "Yes, Shippo?"

He pushed into her stroking touch, into her side, rubbing like an affectionate pet. "Are you and Inuyasha going to be mates now?"

For the second time in the short morning Kagome froze at the kitsune's innocent words. "What are you talking about Shippo?"

He blinked at her, as if it were obvious, "Sango and Miroku and you all said that Inuyasha started a link with you." His face brightened up with fond memories when he announced: "My mommy and daddy had one too!"

She was still frozen, trying to fight the heat that was spreading through her face. Nervously she glanced around the rest of the camp—the fire had died down into ashes. Miroku was sleeping with his back to a tree; his breathing had become thick and nearly snoring. Sango and Kilala were nearest her, still as stones, seemingly deep asleep.

Shippo squirmed in her lap all over again, letting loose one excited squeak then, asking, "Does that mean you'll have a kit? I've always wanted a little brother!" he pressed himself into her, deliriously happy—until he pulled back with a scowl as a new thought came to him. "But what if it was like Inuyasha? He's such a jerk…"

"Shippo…"

He looked up at her, and was immediately worried at her reddened face. "What's wrong, Kagome?" he stopped abruptly and giggled as another happy thought reached him. She gawked down at him as he pressed one ear to her stomach. "I hear it Kagome! I hear it!"

Somehow, though she hadn't thought it was possible, Kagome's face felt even warmer, as if it might burn right off her skull. Though she knew she wouldn't like the answer she asked anyway: "Hear what Shippo?"

"The kit!"

"Oh…" she buried her face in her hands with a sigh of embarrassment and dislodged the young fox by standing up. "I'm sorry Shippo but…" she stopped trying to explain the truth to the dazed little demon when she noted that the lecherous monk was not asleep any longer. He was smirking at her openly, though in his violet eyes she saw a hesitant sadness. _It can't be anything good_…she thought, forcing her face into a cheerful morning grin.

"Hello Miroku!"

He nodded his head, his smirk turning into a genuine smile of lechery, "Morning Kagome…" his eyebrows shot up then, announcing that pleasantries were over and the perversion had begun. "So—I hear congratulations are in order after all? Inuyasha's a very busy dog…"

"Miroku!" she hissed, covering her mouth in something akin to horror.

"Can I name it, Kagome? Can I!" Shippo piped up, leaping to her shoulder smoothly and nuzzling against her cheek. "Please! And I wanna play with it—and could you make it a boy please…?"

"Shippo," she sighed, and threw Miroku a careful frown to make sure he knew not to continue the teasing, "There's nothing going on between Inuyasha and I…"

"But there will be." Miroku added, smirking again.

A rock smashed itself against Miroku's chest then, making the monk groan and clutch the assaulted area, blinking across the remains of the fire to catch the glare that the newly awakened Sango was throwing at him…among other more solid things…

"Why…" he cringed against the pain, "Sango my dear…what a temper you have this morning!"

"Leave Kagome alone Miroku!" she scowled at him, "She's had a rough time lately!"

This made the monk smirk all over again. "Yes, I'll bet…" his violet eyes shimmered mischievously. Kagome covered her face to hide the impending, inevitable blush that his insinuation brought on.

Sango gave an Inuyasha-like growl and fingered another rock where Miroku could easily see it. "If you don't stop being a pervert shortly," she flicked her narrowed chocolate gaze to the rock in her fist in clear warning, "Then _your_ life, Miroku, will shortly become _very_ rough…"

The look that plastered itself over his features was immediately innocent. "But I meant nothing so unsavory, Sango my love…"

"Save it!"

Sighing, Kagome turned her head to try, for the third time, to explain the truth to the kitsune child when she blinked, her senses called inward suddenly…

_(Kagome. Kagome. Kagome. Kagome.)_

She stiffened as the insistent, pulsating, thrumming call tore through her. It didn't speak with Inuyasha's voice inside her, but she knew it was her hanyou nonetheless. It was a command, a need. It pulsed through her mind at the same time that her heart pumped, as the blood rushed in her ears, pounding away a tempo that fit something nameless but vital deep within her.

A shiver passed through her when that call was answered from her own soul, in a slower, pounding, throbbing beat.

_Inuyasha…Inuyasha…Inuyasha…_

"Kagome?"

She blinked, called out of the strange call even as it continued to pound through her insistently. She saw Sango watching her with concerned eyes. "Yes?"

"Are you okay?" the demon slayer rose slowly from her sleeping place, taking Kilala in her arms as she did so. "You looked…"

Miroku supplied an answer with a smirk. "Distracted."

She sighed, "It's nothing…I'll just be glad when…" she stopped, abruptly biting her lip. She'd been about to say "home" because they were so close to Kaede's village and its relative safety. But when Kagome spoke of "home" her thoughts immediately centered around people that wouldn't be born for over 500 years…she struggled to control the feelings of grief that swept through her, a sudden bout of loneliness.

A sigh from Miroku made her come back to the present. The monk rose to his feet, his staff jangled in the early light. "I spoke to Inuyasha last night…"

"Where_ is_ he?" Sango asked, looking around with worry.

"He left." The monk waved the staff briefly in one direction, toward the tree at the edge of their campsite where he'd last seen Inuyasha perched. "Our conversation was…" he frowned and his violet eyes strayed to Kagome, "…difficult. He did, indeed, seem to care about what Kouga said but…" he pursed his lips angrily, "He refused to speak of the link. I realized that it was not something he's ever shared with any of us, not even Kagome."

They were silent, remembering that fact with a deadly stillness.

Only Shippo felt Kagome's body stiffen, scented her shift in emotions. "Kagome?"

The schoolgirl didn't answer. Her eyes had glazed over, her mind turned inward. The pulsing, throbbing call had come again, deeper this time, quieter. But despite this change it was somehow more commanding, harder to ignore. It spoke directly to her soul now, summoning her not in words but in instinct she hadn't known she possessed. Her limbs turned almost against her will, facing the tree that Miroku had last seen Inuyasha pouting in. She wordlessly started to walk forward, a determined, fierce look warping her features.

Shippo leapt off her shoulder and to Sango's instead. The demon exterminator, fire cat youkai, and Miroku all watched the young miko vanish into the shadowed trees.

Worriedly Sango looked to Miroku and asked, "Shouldn't we follow her? Or at least ask where she's going…?"

Miroku smiled almost sadly at her, "Lovely Sango…isn't it obvious?"

"No…"

"Inuyasha called her." Shippo announced, frowning. "Mommy used to do it to daddy when I got into trouble and she wanted him to spank me."

Miroku snorted, unable to cover or bury his mirth. Sango narrowed her eyes at him, "This is not the time for your lechery…" she warned.

He couldn't resist of course. "Perhaps Inuyasha has decided that _he_ would like to be spanked…"

Sango was already kneeling down in search of a rock, "I warned you!"

* * *

_You should explain yourself to her…_

Inuyasha snarled at himself, ears bent backward fiercely. _No, I should be hiding under a rock somewhere_…

_She'd find you; the call will lead her right to you._

"Damn!" perhaps it had been the change brought on by the new moon. His disorientation, the dulled senses—something, but whatever it was the thing had weakened his hold over the link he shared with Kagome. It had also summoned her, called her…_against _his will. He'd quieted it once but not as much as he'd thought. Rather than ceasing it he'd only managed to make the call bury itself deeper, below his conscious level of thought.

_And now she's coming!_

When he took a breath in Inuyasha froze, realizing with a jolt, that she was already there. Pressing himself against the tree behind him, Inuyasha tried again, desperately, to silence the inner call that was crying out to her. He wondered idly if it would always scream to the poor girl, trying to keep her next to him, wondered if he could figure out a way to make it shut off…and then a shudder passed through him. Deep within him too, he felt more than heard an answering call, a beat that timed with his slower, longer lifetime. There was no question in him as to where it came from or why it made his stomach tighten up and do flip-flops.

_(Inuyasha…Inuyasha…Inuyasha…Inuyasha…)_

He waited, stiff with anticipation, his ears bent backward, his amber eyes locked on the familiar lines of the young miko as she slowly pressed through the foliage. She paused just when she'd reached the small clearing that his tree housed itself in, her eyes still glazed over with the effect his call had on her mind…until very slowly she looked up and took in his form.

She flinched, as if he'd yelled at her, and the sharpness of her eyes returned as she met his gaze, though Inuyasha knew that his inner call was still caressing her soul, still beating in time with her heart. "I-Inuyasha?" she whispered, her voice sounding almost confused.

He didn't know what to say—didn't want to be there with her, with so much between them…the unsaid implications of the link, the words Saishi had shared with them, the illness, the stress of collecting Shards, Kouga, Naraku, Kikyo and of course, the mystery of the Bone Eater's Well closing up…

Hurriedly he took in her pajamas and allowed himself a scowl. "Bitch—you need a bath." It was the only thing he could think of that would've been normal under any other circumstances…but he winced at the words, knowing that she'd obeyed his unwitting summons—she'd responded as if she were his mate.

Kagome's expression fell, her stomach tightened in something between grief and disappointment. "Oh…"

He felt her pain, cursed himself for his cowardice. The white ears folded against his skull, hiding in his silver hair. The summons inside him was still calling to her, but Kagome's answer to it had weakened. Inuyasha's body stiffened as he slowly rose to his feet, facing her down almost as if she were a potential enemy on a battlefield. "Aren't you going to sit me?" he demanded, crossing his arms.

She wouldn't look at him. "No…" she shook her head and he scented—though he didn't see them—tears. "I don't know what came over me…" she turned her back to him, "I'm sorry I bothered you Inuyasha." She started to walk away, though Inuyasha could see it was like wading through water for her—his appeal to her soul had grown tenfold now that she was trying to get away from him, and it physically slowed her, fought her.

It was as possessive as he wanted to be and sometimes was…it held her soul, as he wanted to hold her. It whispered devotion; it whispered love. It did all the things that she wanted—_needed_—all the things that he wanted—_needed_—to do, but didn't have the courage or the faith to accept…

He couldn't stand it! "Kagome…" he barked her name, his fists clenching up at his sides when she stopped but didn't turn to face him. He could smell her tenseness, her uncertainty, her pain…he sighed tiredly. "We need to talk."

Slowly she turned back to him, but she kept her eyes carefully averted, chewed on her lower lip. He flinched when he saw and scented anew the tears. They glistened on her cheeks, dewdrops…and he had the strangest desire to carefully remove each from her cheeks and then lick his fingers clean of the accursed, salty drops of misery.

"I'm…listening Inuyasha." She murmured, still refusing to look at him.

Hesitantly Inuyasha stepped forward, a few steps every couple of words. He covered the seemingly vast distance between them like a man afraid of land mines, painfully slow, his face unusually pale.

"I…never meant to start this link." He cringed when the admission made her step back once, her scent laced with fresh pain, "And…" he swallowed nervously, "I'm sorry."

She stepped back a pace or so, her eyes still pointed resolutely on the ground. Inuyasha sensed the emotions firing so rapidly within her, watched the schoolgirl shake with them and felt his ears flatten against his skull. "Please…please don't cry…"

Her face snapped up, her tear-streaked eyes met his amber gaze. "So you never wanted any of this?" she asked, her voice carefully dry of the terrible emotions he felt just beneath it.

He cursed inwardly and couldn't prevent the scowl that twisted over his face. "You don't understand…"

Kagome took another few steps backward, trying to ignore the voiceless command inside her that wanted her to stay beside the hanyou. She might've fled to avoid the pain that was swelling inside her, the agony of what she assumed was his rejection—likely in favor of the undead miko that they hadn't seen in a year, Kikyo—but her back met up with a tree and a few branches coated by cobwebs. Squeaking in abrupt horror at the sticky mess she jerked away from it—and bumped straight into Inuyasha's solid, warm chest.

The tears turned on like a spout; the sobs wracked her shoulders. "Let me go!" she beat on him with surprising strength, her fists balled up dangerously. Inuyasha caught the flailing limbs with his own, using his own careful, cautious strength. If Kagome had looked up she might've seen the pain in the hanyou's amber eyes, but through her tears it was doubtful.

Her legs collapsed, her weight suddenly too much for them to handle. On instinct alone Inuyasha caught her, one arm beneath her knees, the other on her shoulders. She didn't struggle against him, rather she clutched onto him like a child, wilted, wounded—defeated. Inuyasha crumpled to the ground with her still in his arms, in his lap, his face tight and distinctly unhappy. The scent of her misery, of her tears, was enough to make him sick.

"Please! Kagome! Stop crying…" he begged, both aloud and through the link, "I didn't form the link on purpose but…" his voice cut out on him and rather than speak it he formed the words and the emotions that went with it, sending them straight to her mind through the link: _I didn't do it knowingly—but I wish I had. I wish I'd known what I was doing. I wish it could work…_

She quieted, sensing and absorbing his emotions and the silent words that went with them. Her face was buried in his red haori, her fingers clutching it so tightly that Inuyasha could make out every muscle in her hands and her forearms…a warmth seeped into him at the proximity between them, her scent hitting him so strongly—without any of her soaps, oils, shampoos, or any other fragrance laden garbage—that he blinked with a disorientating dizziness.

He stared down at her while she slowly stopped the sobs, realizing that somewhere inside him, the call had changed its tone, changed its meaning. He wanted to see her face, make her happy to…kiss away the tears…his arms shifted on her, tightened his hold about her protectively—and pulled her closer.

Before he could even really consider what he was doing Inuyasha had buried his face in her hair, in the crook of her neck. He inhaled the scent there, shivering unrestrainedly at it. His mind wandered easily, letting whatever hold he had suppressing the open flow of the link between them lighten. His thoughts and sensations passed from him and straight to her, making the schoolgirl stiffen with shock.

The primal call within the hanyou drove him onward, instinctually trying to ease the young woman's stiffness, the insecurities she so clearly shared with him through the link. Pressing his lips to her neck gently, teasing her with the gentle, tickling touches, feather-light kisses, Inuyasha whispered a second apology against her skin, and felt her shiver in his arms as well as through the link.

_I'm sorry Kagome; I never meant to hurt you with all this. I'll find a way to make it right…_

Her fingers loosened their desperate hold and slid slowly up and around his neck, drawing herself closer to him, pressing her own face into his shoulder. Her breaths were deep, smoothing out steadily…relaxing. The pain inside her was fast being swallowed up by warmth.

"Find a way to make it right…?" she murmured, and he shivered when her lips brushed his own flesh.

"Yes…" he swallowed nervously, clutching her a little closer, "I'll find a way to break it."

He knew immediately that he'd said the wrong thing; he'd screwed up again. The young miko in his arms breathed in sharply and pushed away from him. Her brown eyes met his, narrowed, suspicious. "Break it…" she shook her head, "You…don't want it then?"

Pursing his lips, his ears flat, Inuyasha looked down, averting his eyes. "I _do_ want it…" he risked looking up at her only to feel a sudden heat take his cheeks and he glanced hurriedly away, knowing she would hear the full message through the link: _I want _**_you_…**

"Then—" he didn't let her finish.

"We can't Kagome." He sighed, exhaustedly.

"But…" she fought tears, blinking rapidly. Her hands on his shoulders tightened, shook a little, "Why not?" through the link Inuyasha grimaced when he caught her masked thought, her die-hard worries flaring up…_Kikyo_…

He looked up at her sharply, glaring. "It's not what you're thinking!" he frowned heavily, "It has nothing to do with Kikyo…"

She was confused, shaking a little with her confusion, the beginnings of new pain, "Then…what?"

He sighed, amber eyes searching hers, seeking understanding, "It's not right, Kagome. You'd be in danger if the demons we fight for the Shards knew we have a link, knew…" he shrugged feebly, but his mind unwittingly finished it for her, though he hadn't really meant the thought to pass to her…_Knew we were mates…_

She shook her head, frustration and something close to desperation bubbling up inside her—he didn't need the link to see it in the way her eyes tried to tear up again. "Inuyasha!" her grip on him grew so much it was nearly painful as she buried her face into his chest, as if trying to draw strength from him. _"I love you_…" her body quivered beneath his arms with the admission and Inuyasha winced.

Scowling, he grasped her shoulders and gently, but firmly pushed her back from him. "You're mortal, Kagome." He breathed, eyes glowing, "I'm a hanyou. If we…became mates…I'd have to live to watch you grow old and _die._ And then I would be alone." His grip on her shoulders tightened and his eyes clouded with pain, "Do you understand now? No matter how much we want it…" he looked away from her, as if ashamed, "We can't have it."

Kagome averted her face; her eyes tearing again, her mouth set quivering in misery. "I-I think…I understand…" she pushed away from him, leaving the warmth of his arms, his lap, and rose to her feet, staring at the trees, the forest of Feudal era Japan around her. She took several deep, long breaths to steady herself, to strengthen her mind, body and soul. Then, slowly, she looked back at Inuyasha.

The hanyou looked thoroughly miserable too, and any anger she'd had for his stubbornness lingering inside immediately faded. She had no doubt that he had meant what he'd said; every word of it…but Kagome felt the wrongness of his decision. The devotion, the patience she'd had in years passed for Inuyasha sprang unquestionably into her mind, wrapping about her soul like a blanket. It made her stronger.

She took a breath. "Inuyasha."

He flinched but slowly looked up at her, his ears shifting forward and backward, as if confused. His amber eyes were sad, tired, defeated as she'd never seen them before…but a hint of a smile quirked at his mouth when he responded, "Bitch?"

"You're wrong."

The hanyou blinked. "What?" the ears turned briefly backward and then came forward again, paying close attention.

"I said you're wrong, Inuyasha." She lifted her chin a little, her mind clearing slightly of grief. "Nothing is perfect…but some happiness is better than none." Hesitantly she reached down and over to his ears, grasped one between her middle finger and thumb, rubbed the soft, downy fuzz that covered it teasingly as she whispered: "I'll wait for you…"

Before Inuyasha could recover from his shock she had left him—heading back to the camp. The warmth of her touch lingered on his ear and Inuyasha's body hummed with longing in response. Deep inside him the call had ceased. It now whispered its message to him rather than to Kagome, the same two words over and over again.

_My mate…My mate…My mate…_

* * *

Endnote: THANK YOU all! This was a little longer than usual so I'm going to try and keep the endnotes short...even though I'm feeling chatty (grins) 

THANK YOU: _**Tiamath **_(LOL, uniquely wolf, I like that. Thank you! I was actually scared of making Kouga essentially a jerk, as we would see him, but so far no one's flamed me for it. I actually do love Kouga myself. But I just couldn't see him letting Kagome go so easily. Maybe he would've if she'd dumped the "I don't like you like that" 's on him sooner, but now that he's been at her for a long, long time...it just didn't feel right for him to be heartbroken and just leave. And a BIG thank you for requesting the names...Keshikaran I chose becuase I liked the sound of it. Also becuase that family's beginnings were, I would imagine, outrageously funny. Maybe I'll make that a story someday.The wordmight have something to do with "soul" maybe an "outrageous" soul. Keshikaran was a sort of synonym for rudeness or wildness too. "Wild soul"? I don't know. But THANK YOU! again...) _**toxiclollipop**_ (As usual you are keeping me on my toes...hehe...THIS time you caught something that was deliberate. Go back and read when, was it last chapter, Kagome tells Kouga she's been claimed. Kouga leans in and sniffs her and says that Inuyasha hasn't _consummated_(Consummation literally canmean to complete a marriage with sex, in case you didn't know.)it yet. She probably always smells like Inuyasha but not in the right WAY to be out in the open officially recognized "mates." There has to be some "mating" before that can happen and these two aren't there yet. (snickers) good question!) _**FanstasyFreak**_ (LOL. He is really dense.) _**InuObbsessed o.o**_ (hey! You reviewed "Hanyou" for me! YAYS! That one will have something near to 400 reviews now! Hope you find this note and enjoy the sequel!) _**Heather**_ ((snickers) Yeah...the dog is pretty sad, both of them actually...I got a female version of Kagome's Buyo too...her name is Pastel but she's so fat and clumsy we never call her it. Instead her name is anything that is synonymus with "Fat." Things like: Cow, Duck(that one's just weird...), Turkey, and Fatsack. But our favorite affectionate term for her plumpness is Sumo, (grins proudly) I coined the phrase...anyway, nuff of me babbling..)_** Inuadmirer**_ (Exams will do that to ya, but that's okay, not your fault or even the exams. I've purposefully left it sketchy. I will map out the theorized relations in a note thing up top.) _**NefCanuck**_ (well, Miroku might just have been thinking that dying at Inuyasha's hands was better than being killed by his own cursed hand...(snickers)) _**SlummyRedDragon**_ (I was only teasing you "Slummy" (grins) I love tension...just as long as I don't crap out on the climax...don't let me, kay? (growls to herself worriedly) There was a little bit of a break in it here...a little more tenderness...) _**Moonlight the Hedgehog**_ (Nice name! Good to see you! New here? (bows) Reading the Souta/Mrs. H parts isn't necessary...but that story is starting to charge up. That story illuminates...a possible future...er...can't explain...(dies)) _**Yami Chikara**_ (Ah...he's a little better thin chapter. He's been living in denial. (nods) you're right...a TURD! (snickers) Kouga doesn't really mean to be a jerk or to be really mean, and actually I love him in the anime to death, but I just couldn't see him getting all whiny and crying about it. He's a powerful leader b/c he's got some ambition. He gets what he wants...and Kagome isn't going to get away just b/c she has her heart set on someone else...besides, the way he thinks, she can and needs to do better than Inuyasha...at least that's a little of my theory while analyzing his character.) _**Okazin**_ (LOL thank you! I could use the reviews! I know _WOAWO_ is more popular right now but I always get depressed when reviews flood that story and not a different one. Kinda like a mother who sees onechild with more friends thanher other children...I'll write and post as long as the idea pleases me, but reviews always make it that much more pleasurable. Thank you again!) _**LukeShaehl **_(Hey! Thanks! I haven't seen you in a long time! Wow! Welcome back! (gives out a cookie) Glad to hear from you!) Well, I think I'm done...so much for keeping it short, eh?

I'm having trouble deciding on a way to summarize this story. (pouts like Inuyasha) Is the one I've left it with good? I'm open to anything and everything you all have to say. Well! Now it's time for a preview! I'll give you one guess as to why he's scratching...

_He looked up, golden eyes sharp with annoyance. "What the hell is it now, damn it!" he snapped, and then started to shake again, convulsively almost. Even his ears twitched. _

_"When did you get fleas?" came Shippo's snickering question from the safety of Kagome's shoulder._

Final image for next chapter: being a dog demon, does that mean Sesshy lacks sweat glands? So...how does he cool off? Does he have to pant like a dog? Hehe...


	16. Wolves

**Disclaimer:** I own Inuyasha like I own my computer: I don't. I just smile and ask to be allowed to use it and them anyway. The day I actually own the computer I'm typing on...well...then I'll own Inuyasha like I own my pet unicorn...(smirks)

**A/N:** Yes, this is short. Usually I make you wait longer. This time I'm bored and I like getting reviews...(grins smugly) After the respite of last chapter's calm Inuyasha this chapter has a cranky Inu at the end. So I have to pull out the **_Warning_** sign again for his language. Souta and Mrs. H are cruising, finding more and more interesting possibilities...this chapter you'll learn about the Tousakusha family...go back to the notes on last chapter if you want the definition of that family's name...At the end of this chapter and through the beginning of the next one for quite a ways, Inuyasha receives an unwelcome guest! I'm not gonna tell you now but think about last chapter's preview and you'll have a pretty good hint...Inuyasha scratching frantically...Also in watching the episodes of the anime I've found, and incorporated here, a habit Inuyasha has when there's trouble. Last anime episode I saw he yelled to Shippo: "Take care of Kagome and the others." No one acknowledges it, and for all I know it could be a dubbing error, but is it wrong for me to pull the insinuation out of there that Kagome is no longer "on of the others," in some way...she gets special acknowledgement. Anyway, so I have Inuyasha doing that here, but he stops partway and catches himself doing it...(snickers)...anyway...Enjoy!

**

* * *

****Wolves**

"Hello, my name is Souta Higurashi from the Higurashi Shrine. Is Miss Kari Keshikaran available?"

I had to admire Souta. Although I can't ever remember teaching him such excellent phone manners I must have done it at some point in his life. For hours on end he'd been calling strangers up repeating the same lines over and over again without sounding bored, angry, frustrated or even annoyed. His phone manners were absolutely impeccable. The only thing that gave away his uncertainty about this particular call was the way he was twisting the phone call with on hand about his fingers.

"Oh, hello Miss Keshikaran. Sorry to bother you at about dinnertime but I'm looking for some information about a family myth. I found it in our shrine's archives. It lists an Asa Keshikaran as being the one to relate it. I was wondering if you could shed any light on this for me…the myth is a family legend from the Tetsusaiga clan, called the_ Shikon Jewel and Family Tetsusaiga_. Have you heard about it?" Souta's eyes shifted hopefully to me, he was lucky to have gotten so far in that spiel. Normally the male members of the Keshikarak clan would've dismissed him already.

I listened as the voice spoke a small question to Souta, something likely along the lines of "What shrine again?" or "What myth?" or maybe even "Is this some kind of joke?"

A moment later Souta nodded, though the woman on the other line couldn't see it. "Yes, the Higurashi Shrine's archives. Have you heard much about the legend? Do you know anyone in the Tetsusaiga family who would speak with me about it?"

There was a pause, and a lot of talking from the woman, Kari. I looked away, sure that she was sending Souta packing again for sure, just like all the others, but I was wrong…a second later Souta tapped my shoulder, his face was wild, stunned, elated when I looked back at him.

"Uh huh…yes…" he murmured into the mouthpiece while he gestured for me to throw him a pen and a pad of sticky-notes. I heard the voice droning onward while Souta nodded and started writing with the pen in shorthand that I couldn't make any sense of.

After a moment I realized that I could be listening in on the conversation if I grabbed the other phone—and the moment I had that thought I dashed off into my bedroom and grabbed up the thing. As carefully as I could I pressed the "On" button and pushed the thing to my ear.

A young woman's cheery, high-pitched voice was talking confidently when the earpiece reached its place. "—ow a lot of the Tetsusaigas really. They're kind of a weird bunch. Quiet if they're not picking a fight or if you don't know you. If they do they're loud and obnoxious!" she laughed and I immediately liked her but hated the wonderful sound at the same time—she sounded like my daughter used to…

"Do they ever discuss the origin myth with your family?" Souta asked, his tone eager but light, keeping things on track but enjoying the woman's bright, cheery disposition.

"Uh…" she paused and I felt a sense of dread descend on me. Would she shut us out now? "Why do you ask, Mr. Higurashi…?"

Her tone and her hesitance set off my suspicion. With the way most of the Keshikarans had been so reluctant to speak at all I'd wondered if they weren't sworn to secrecy—which was most bizarre. Why keep a family myth so tight lipped?

"As keeper of the Higurashi Shrine—" not entirely the truth on Souta's part, I thought, "I dig through the archives and old records a lot. I am doing a project recording some of Tokyo's oldest families. The Tetsusaiga clan is over 500 years old, right?"

I sensed the woman on the other line nodding, "As is my family—the Keshikarans."

"That's another thing I wanted to ask you Miss Keshikaran…"

"Just Kari is good."

"Kari," I smiled when I caught Souta's nervousness. He was wondering how old she was now, if she'd waste time with him going to movies, studying, shopping, whatever else he could think of. _Yes, my son the playboy…_

I snapped back to attention when Souta continued after clearing his throat, "How exactly are the Keshikaran's related to the Tetsusaigas?"

There was a pause and I knew that Souta had made a mistake. When Kari Keshikaran spoke her voice was slower, less cheery, "How'd you know that we're related?"

"It was noted by the woman who related the myth to my great grandfather in the 1800s…I wanted to confirm that it is true. And if it is, how?"

Kari's voice was now distinctly less pleasant. I sensed her uncertainty, as if she were committing a crime, sinning by talking to my son. "The Keshikaran's are descendents of the firstborn daughter of the founders of the Tetsusaiga family."

Souta and I had already known that. "What was her name, do you know?"

"Uh…" she paused, and it was suddenly clear to me, without a doubt, that the Keshikarans _were_ sworn to silence. Why some of them, usually the women apparently, chose to break it, was beyond me. "Not really…"

"Well then, what was her husband's name? Do you know his background? Are the Keshikaran's _older_ than the Tetsusaigas?"

There was another pause, as if Kari were debating whether or not to answer. Finally she sighed and spoke, "No, they're just a little younger, by one generation or so. The Tetsusaiga's first daughter married a man from an even older family by the name of Tousakusha. They families were close friends…"

I blinked. _That was new…_

Souta was surprised too; he made a grunting sound that reminded me painfully of his father. "Wow…I didn't know that…what do you know about the Tousakusha family? Do they still exist today? Do they have a family legend? And why didn't this man who married the Tetsusaiga woman continue on with his normal family name?" from Souta's tone I could tell he suspected something, but what it was just yet, and how it related to the Tousakusha family was beyond me.

"Actually they do have a family legend, and they still exist today…they have a curse too." She laughed, suddenly enjoying herself again, her voice was low and throaty, flirting, I realized with a jolt, when she spoke again. "The Keshikarans have the same curse as a matter of fact…" she chuckled, "Thanks to good old great-great-great-great whatever grandfather Tousakusha Kobiru."

"Really?" I could tell Souta was genuinely interested now; this was becoming steadily less formal and increasingly successful. "But why not keep his name like that? Why make it Keshikaran Kobiru?"

"Well…" Kari's voice was full amusement, "I think it had to do with the Tetsusaiga woman he married. The story goes that she had a very protective father—which might explain why the Tetsusaiga legend says the male founder was a _dog_ demon, you know? Jealous as a _dog_…_dog_ in the manger? But anyway…"

"Wait…don't you mean a _half_ dog demon?"

My breath hitched in my throat and I resisted the urge to groan. I had a feeling that Souta's interruption was deadly to the conversation, like poison. He'd revealed some other motive, some other source of knowledge. He was too eager, too well informed. It would set alarm bells off in this woman's head. She was flirty, cheery, and I liked her—but she wasn't _dumb_ either.

"How did—" she cut herself off abruptly and started again, "What's going on? Where the hell did you hear that garbage?" her voice hissed, a note of desperation in it.

"Uh…"

"If you don't tell me," her voice was low and dark, "I'll tell the Tetsusaiga family that you've been asking about them…"

I could sense Souta's panic just as if it'd been my own. "I'm sorry Miss Keshikaran—to have alarmed you. I'm not sure how I offended—"

"Who are you? Who's your source for this?"

"Why does it matter?" Souta shot back, and I bit the inside of my tongue to keep quiet.

"That's none of your damn business." She snapped, the cheerfulness gone. "I'm going to be chest-deep in shit from the Tetsusaigas for this…" she hissed, more to herself than to Souta.

"I'm sorry—I just don't see what's wrong with family legends…it was all 500 years ago anyway, Miss Keshikaran." Despite Souta's words I could hear his pain, and feel it myself. What was 500 years ago for these three families—the Tetsusaigas, the Keshikarans, and the Tousakushas—was only a decade ago for Souta and I. We remembered the young woman who used to call our shrine home right beside us. We remembered her romance with the dog-eared _half-_demon Inuyasha…

Kari must've heard something in his voice as well, for when she spoke again her voice was quieter, the angry edge to it gone. "Hey, I'm sorry for getting all worked up…I can't really explain it…but…" she hesitated a moment and then asked, "You wanna come and visit me? Tomorrow maybe? Say, six o'clock? We could have dinner together and you could ask me these questions then…"

"Sure!" Souta instantly betrayed himself as younger than his earlier phone manners had suggested, and he cleared his throat with embarrassment at the outburst and corrected himself with: "Yes, that would be wonderful Miss K—I mean Kari."

She laughed, "All right—Souta is it?"

"Yeah, Souta's the name." I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone as quietly as I could, stalking down the stairs to rejoin Souta just as he hung up.

Just as I'd expected his face was bright red. "Hey Mom…" he mumbled, avoiding my eyes.

I reached forward and patted him affectionately, "You did great! You even got a date!"

He smirked briefly before he pushed the phone at me. "You'd better call the next one Mom…" he looked carefully away from me, "I can't go on a date with the next one…"

My heart lurched inside me when I remembered the next name on our list: Miss Kagome Keshikaran. I swallowed nervously and hesitated before I started dialing, trying to gather up my courage with a distraction, trying to settle my thoughts. "Souta?" I pushed curiously through his notes on the multicolored sticky notes. "Why did you ask about the Tousakusha family? Did you suspect something or was it just idle chatter?"

He avoided my searching eyes while he answered. "It wasn't idle chatter, Mom. I think that the Tetsusaiga's first girl married a man whose parents were Kagome and Inuyasha's closest friends…"

I blinked, not thinking straight. "What do you mean?"

This time he looked at me, pointedly. "Think about it Mom—a curse, an older family than the Tetsusaigas…"

He wasn't making sense to me yet. "I'm not thinking right, Souta." I sighed, "Just tell me what's on your mind."

"Sango and Miroku."

* * *

"Don't shut me out." 

Inuyasha blinked, amber eyes momentarily surprised as he turned to his side where the voice had arisen from and found Kagome walking stiffly at his side. For a moment he was nearly overcome by the desire to do something to shock the scowl off her face—_he_ was supposed to wear the scowl damn it!—but he decided against it when he saw that Shippo was riding on her shoulder. The kit's green eyes peered over at him with a mixture of suspicion and respect. The hanyou smirked at that and looked quickly away from the miko.

"We've talked about this." He murmured, ears falling backward in warning.

It was still hot and muggy—prime summer season. Villagers eagerly attended their crops while the Shard-hunters passed. Thunderheads built overhead and sailed through the hazy, humid sky. When Inuyasha lifted his eyes along the wide, treeless expanse of the latest stretch of irrigated rice fields that they were currently traveling through, he could easily see the wavy lines of heat, water mirages that shriveled and died as they drew nearer.

Inuyasha lead the way on purpose now, hands hidden in his red sleeves, keeping his back almost always to the others. He did this not as the usual brave leader of his motley "pack" but also because he knew they'd laugh at him if they caught him with his mouth hanging open in a half-pant. He'd been smirking all day wondering if, somewhere, Sesshomaru was doing the same thing several times worse because his brother was a full blooded dog demon—and dogs have no sweat glands.

With a sideways glance at Kagome he considered trying to change the subject from turbulent waters to entertainment instead. Wasn't the thought of his prissy half brother panting like a dog absolutely delightful? But one look at Kagome told him she was hell-bent on making sure he reopened the link they shared.

He sighed, inwardly of course, remembering. After his discussion with the young miko concerning the link and their impossible, unwise status as potential mates, the Shard-hunters had finished their journey back to Kaede's village. After resting a night—during which Miroku groped Sango numerous more times than usual, seemingly to make up for his good behavior in the temple and through most of the journey—Kagome had tried to use the well again without success. Without any other leads besides what Saishi had told them, the group had asked Kaede's advice again, after sharing the monk's opinion with her.

Kaede had advised them that perhaps the Shards were what affected the well. Getting a hold of all the remaining Shards should be their priority—perhaps it was what the Time needed to be done for the well to open again. Kagome had expressed her concerns on whether or not Time would "delete" her—which Inuyasha thought, or rather desperately hoped, was ridiculous—and explained some scenarios on things she called, "Time paradoxes." Inuyasha of course, had tried to understand it, but it sounded suspiciously like a riddle to him, and Inuyasha _hated_ riddles…

So it was off to do what they'd always done together: Shard hunting.

Shards were, on the whole, scarce. Attacks were frequently made by demons seeking Shards rather than carrying them. This was of course because three-fourths of the Shikon Jewel were complete, fused together, and currently dangling from the very attractive neck of a certain schoolgirl…his amber eyes drifted back over to the disturbingly quiet miko, but instead of scowling as he'd wanted to his eyes decided to make moves of their own and the scowl had died before it'd ever been born. The pulling and flexing of the muscles in the schoolgirl's legs as revealed by her uniforms green skirt caught his attention and Inuyasha took them in like a starving prisoner of war will eat until he makes himself sick.

At his side his clawed hands twitched spasmodically, much like Miroku's tended to do before he got himself slapped with hiraikotsu.

"I know we have, Inuyasha," he jerked his gaze to her face again, thanking the gods that he'd done something right for a change by keeping their link tightly shut the whole day, "But you know I disagree with you."

His ears turned backward, "Do you think I care—bitch?" since discussing their situation with one another Inuyasha had been trying every trick he knew how to stop, destroy, cut off, or simply weaken his link to Kagome…but she held onto it as stubbornly as a bulldog. She _liked_ the inside of his head, _liked_ knowing what was really behind his blustering words…she _liked_ it when he was exposed. Inuyasha felt the exact opposite of her: it scared the hell out of him. With access to the inside of his head she could win almost any argument—and she was sneaky…

Like at this moment: "Yes, actually, I know you do."

Their gazes locked onto one another for a moment, Inuyasha inwardly cursing her, and Kagome waiting for the hanyou to ease up. Shippo watched their interaction with a keen gleam in his green eyes.

"Hit him Kagome!" he hopped on her shoulder once, eagerly.

The hanyou's eyes drifted to the kit, narrowed dangerously. "You little brat…"

Squeaking for Kagome's assistance, the kitsune burrowed into her hair, tried to slip into the back of her shirt. Kagome's eyes flew open wide and she whimpered; twisting and wriggling as she tried to grab Shippo as his little claws and paws started to tickle her back. "Oh no—Shippo stop! Please!"

"See what you get for saving him all the time, Kagome? You spoil that runt as if he were your own pup!" Inuyasha snorted, starting to step ahead of her and effectively win that useless argument with speed and distraction, but through her struggling Kagome was still able to get the better of him.

"Pup?" she echoed when he was only a step or two away, mockingly, "You may call me a bitch but I'm _not_ one so I can't have puppies!" her voice died into giggles and gasping breaths as Shippo continued to crawl around under her shirt, like a living tumor.

Inuyasha appeared to ignore her, but one white ear turned back on her, listening to the struggle and to her taunt. He bit his lips while he walked to keep his own retort to himself for obvious reasons: _I know I could find a way to make it possible for you Kagome_…he smirked even while he tried to banish those thoughts.

Trailing behind the hanyou and the miko, struggling still with the troublesome Shippo, Miroku and Sango with Kilala in her arms, drifted close together to continue their conspiring.

"At least they're not fighting…"

Miroku smirked, using the staff to point at the unknowing leading half of the group, "It's better than that, my Sango," he ignored the way she blushed bright red, "Inuyasha has mixed up poor Kagome's legs with her face! Did you see him staring?"

Sango scoffed and moved away from the monk with a glare, "You're one to notice."

He pointedly ignored her ridicule, "We shall have to watch over them or soon Shippo really will have a 'little brother' to play with."

The demon slayer's mouth fell open and she scowled fiercely. "I think I've heard enough out of you today, Miroku. Where have you been for a week? I told you about what Kagome said Inuyasha has planned to do as far as their connection to one another! He's going to push poor Kagome away from him…" she sighed, her eyes glazing over a little as she watched Kagome drag Shippo from her shirt by the tail.

Miroku shook his head and leaned a little closer to her, "He won't—do you remember what I said, Lady Sango?" his eyebrows shot up, and instinctively—and with three years of knowing the lecherous ways of the monk—Sango edged away from him, eyeing his hands.

"I remember what you said a few seconds ago, pervert…"

"No! A few weeks ago, Sango…" he moved closer, and although she cursed herself for letting him a few seconds later she let him anyway, "Do you remember? I told you mating—" here his hand latched swiftly onto her thigh and moved quickly upward, following the curve of her body like a caffeine addict inhaling a Pepsi, "—season is coming very soon."

"Pervert!" Sango slapped him so hard the monk spun and tripped away from her.

Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo stopped and glanced back, shaking their heads at the familiar behavior. Sango huffed and walked forward, her chin pointed into the air, distancing herself from the groaning, but thoroughly pleased, Miroku.

"I was only smoothing a wrinkle my Sango!" he called after her, pushing himself to his feet and hurrying to catch up.

"The next time you smooth out a wrinkle there, Miroku," she threw him a glare over her shoulder, "I'll make sure you don't get up."

* * *

That night the blackness surrounding the Shard-hunter's small circle of fire was ripped apart by the eerie crying of wolves. Kagome, Shippo, Kilala and Sango huddled together fearfully on one side of the fire, trying to talk about anything that didn't involve rabid wolves or wild wolf youkai. Miroku paced at the edge of the fire, his violet eyes serious and dark. 

At dusk when they'd made camp Inuyasha had left to find some game to bring back as "proper" nourishment. Without Kagome's usual treats from her era they'd resorted to relying on Inuyasha's natural hunting instinct and his claws to provide food when villages were scarce. Sango and Kagome were left cooking the catches of course, while Miroku was charged with guarding the group within an inch of his life while the hanyou and Tetsusaiga were absent. Normally it wasn't a problem—but this night the forest around them was alive with wolf calls.

Shippo perched himself atop Kagome's head, shivering as he worked to scent the wind. "I don't smell Inuyasha yet…"

"He'll be back soon enough." Miroku offered, his staff jangling as he paced the fire, eyes alert, cursed right hand hovering near the staff, fingers toying with the prayer beads.

"Can you sense him, Kagome?" Sango tried, stroking Kilala as the fire cat youkai growled in her lap, her fur bristling. The sound of so many canines around her was, at the very least, annoying. At the worst it was frightening.

Frowning, Kagome shook her head negatively, shaking Shippo on his perch so that the kit clutched more desperately to her hair, whimpering a little. "No," she crossed her arms, pouting. "Dog boy has it closed off…"

Abruptly the group whirled in the direction of some twigs snapping, the foliage rustling. Shippo hissed on Kagome's head, shivering. Sango and Kagome stiffened, preparing to spring into action, and Kilala leapt from the demon slayer's lap, growling. Miroku moved to stand in front of the girls and Shippo, his right hand raised, the prayer beads ripped off, his eyebrows were lowered in his battle mask, all sign of lechery gone.

But then Shippo squealed and bounced onto Kagome's shoulder, pointing toward the disturbance. "It's Inuyasha! He smells like fish!" the kit was immediately drooling at the thought of a fish dinner.

The Shard-hunters relaxed as a familiar red robed figure emerged from the forest, scowling. Between two fists he had six fish clutched firmly. He was cursing vehemently under his breath as he entered their little lighted clearing. "Damn it! Stupid fucking wolves! Must have shit for brains! Damn-stinking balls of fur!" he tossed the fish at Kagome and Sango, still muttering under his breath.

Shippo forgot the fish to leap onto Inuyasha's shoulder; his green eyes wide and curious, "What happened Inuyasha? Why are the wolves howling? Was it scary? Did you get bitten? Are they wab-bid (Rabid)like Kagome says? Do you need to go to the vet-train-air-ree-in (Veterinarian)to get a big nasty shot in the stomach so you don't get sick? Did you see—" his questions were cut short when the irritated hanyou flicked the kit from his shoulder.

"Would you shut your damn mouth Shippo?" he grumped, glaring at the kit on the ground, irritated. While Shippo raised his voice to whine at Inuyasha's rudeness, and to prompt Kagome to "sit" him, the hanyou settled into a crouching position opposite Miroku and shook himself off, much like a wet dog—but it wasn't raining, and Inuyasha wasn't wet that they could see.

The bizarre behavior brought stares from the three humans of the group immediately, but Miroku was the one to speak their shared concern. "Inuyasha…"

He looked up, golden eyes sharp with annoyance. "What the hell is it now, damn it!" he snapped, and then started to shake again, convulsively almost. Even his ears twitched.

"When did you get fleas?" came Shippo's snickering question from the safety of Kagome's shoulder.

"I don't have fleas!" he growled, seeming to stop the scratching and shaking as he finally grabbed hold of the source of his itching problems from somewhere behind one ear and with a scowl he smashed his palms together viciously. "Feh! This _pest _was my problem!" he snorted, lifting the flattened shape of Myoga up for the others to see with his clawed fingers.

A collective gasp took hold of the other Shard-hunters as Myoga started to protest Inuyasha's hold on him indignantly, "This is no way for you to treat me Master Inuyasha! And to think, after I came all this distance just looking for you!" he huffed, crossing his arms and pouting between Inuyasha's fingers.

"I'll treat you like the pest you are, Myoga!" he squeezed tighter onto the flea fractionally, "So _you_ were the one that made those filthy wolves chase after me like that, eh?"

Myoga fidgeted, distinctly nervous and reeking of guilt, "Well, uh…I might've had _a little_ to do with it, Master Inuyasha—but the wolf youkai are already a little wilder than usual tonight, you know. It is their mating season after all."

Inuyasha snarled, his ears laying flat, "Do you think I give a damn about their mating season, old man?" he propped one knee up and set the flea demon down, but continued to glower down at him threateningly. "Now—get to the point. What did you really come here for? I know you've always got some other agenda when you show up so hurry up and spill it."

By now, across the fire, the other Shard-hunters were eagerly listening to the exchange, and sliding closer to listen. Shippo leapt up on Inuyasha's shoulder, though the hanyou threw him a quick glare before allowing him to stay there. Kagome and Sango forgot about the fish and scooted over to be on Inuyasha's left while Miroku joined on the right. Kilala waited near his feet, her twin tails flicking right and left absently.

This was, of course, just how Myoga liked his audiences. He settled onto his red platform—which just happened to be Inuyasha's knee—and tucked his four tiny arms away. "I have heard a few rumors in my travels lately…" Inuyasha's low, dangerous growl made Myoga jump, startled, and cut his story off completely before it'd even begun. "Master Inuyasha…?"

"This had better be something about the Shards or Naraku, old man…" he warned, amber eyes narrowing, the clear threat of violence glimmering in them. The other Shard-hunters stiffened around the hanyou, knowing suddenly what Inuyasha was_ really_ afraid of hearing the flea demon jabber about—his connection to Kagome or the magic of the Bone Eater's Well having stopped.

"Uh…" Myoga fidgeted, and Inuyasha's glare intensified, along with his growling. "Perhaps I should consult with you privately, Master Inuyasha…?" he tried, hopefully, squirming.

Inuyasha let out an exasperated sigh, "Damn it!" he grabbed up the flea between his clawed fingers and stood up, making the other Shard-hunters move hurriedly away to return to their original positions. He put Myoga on his shoulder, his face still warped in a scowl and looked to his friends—who each worked hard not to meet him in the eye—and snarled out, "I'll be back after I've exterminated the pest." His eyes flew to Miroku, "Monk—watch after Ka—_the others_, until I'm back. Got it?" Miroku nodded once and as fast as that Inuyasha was gone again, into the darkness of the forest, amidst the frenzied wolf cries piercing the night.

In his wake Kagome was blushing furiously, struggling to focus on the fish rather than the fact that the clearing was heavy with silence and that somewhere out there among the sex-driven wolves and wolf youkai Inuyasha was talking with a flea about something private. And suspiciously enough she could feel his control over the link tighter now then it'd ever been. The long, loud silence had to end sometime, but that knowledge didn't stop Kagome from cringing when Shippo's voice finally broke through the gentle crackling of the fire and the distant, eerie wolf cries.

He sighed: "I hate wolves."

Miroku started to laugh, his staff jangling with his movements, "Someday you'll understand why they're making so much noise!" he snickered.

"You pervert!" Sango huffed, but her face was abruptly red too.

He grinned proudly, "What should we do while he's away, hmm? Shall we place bets on how long it takes Inuyasha to come back this time, and how angry he is?" his violet eyes roved over the two women, gleaming, "Or how about strip-rock-paper-scissors?"

"We could feed you to the wolves." Shippo suggested, shaking his head in dismay.

"They wouldn't eat him." Sango sighed, "He's rotten, all the way through."

* * *

Endnotes: What can I say guys? I'm bored, but orientation is coming up soon...I have writer's block on most of my original stuff--which makes me think fanfiction is a little like selling your soul b/c it writes itself and it's like...addictive...ah well...THANK YOU! 

THANK YOU ALL REVIEWERS: _**SlummyRedDragon**_ (WOW! I musta done something right last chapter b/c that was a long review from you Slummy! Thank you! I'm glad I could please you. I remember getting your review--it was the first one too!--and I was grinning like a maniac...(snickers) Thank you again!) _**SerenaClearwater**_ ((sniggles) I've missed you! But giggle all you want, I know that when I was newer to this and I read someone else's story in which "pups" were mentioned I cracked up. Writing "So Much For The Hanyou's Happy Ending" also made me crack up...the chapter called "You and Your Pups Too" in that story was written by an 18-year-old version of me with a laughing problem...the whole way. (sniggles in memory) It's the kinda silly laugh you get when you stay up too late and get hysterical so that everything is funny...I LOVE that feeling! Anyway, good to see you again!) _**sarah**_ (Thank you! And b/c you asked...look back through the Legend of the Tetsusaiga family again...you'll get a hint about the upcoming plot, which is, unless I screw it up of course, going to get...the word I want to use is "heavy" or "dramatic." I've read a few other ppl's fiction lately and...(smirks) good ideas...bad cliffies...(grins) You'll hate me for sure! But next chapter is full of IY and company again, nothing serious in it...) _**FanstasyFreak**_ (That's a GREAT idea! It would be THE funniest thing! Know any good artists? Anyone out there want to draw Sesshy panting like a tired/hot dog? Hehe...it's so good to be evil...) _**stardragon12**_ (Hehe...a lot of reviewers said the same thing, described it the same way...sad...(smirks) I think i wrote it with Spiderman 2 in mind. The admission of love, the "we can't be together ever" plight, and then fianlly the one with the brains says, "I get a say too you idiot! And I choose you!" (grins) That's the plan I'm sticking to...for now...Kouga will reappear whenever my muse decides...so far not for a little bit at least...and she could ask the Jewel to do that, but isn't the rule about the Jewel that the wish has to be a pure one, completely unbiased, like unselfish...(shrugs) I dunno...) _**toxiclollipop**_ (Hehe...the terrible terrible puns! A hot dog...(smirks) We are all so deliciously evil...(smirks) I wonder if there's a way I could have the Shard-hunters run into Sesshy and company in this fic...probably not but I'll think 'er over.) _**LukeShaehl**_ (Hey! It is good to have you back! Missed you! I'm glad you found me again! Hmm...(considers spilling her guts about the plot...) Okay...Kagome Keshikaran isn't thier Kagome, I'll admit that now...but she _is_ named after her and she will prove to be very important...(grins) That's all for now.) _**Yami Chikara**_ (LOL, the frustration! Gah! (sniggles) As usual part of him denies, but just like in this chapter, he has trouble pretending...it just sorta creeps up on him. Next chapter his denial wears down again, a little more...) _**freelke**_ (Oh! Thank you! I will tell you if/when I get something sold, I'll put it on my profile proudly!...(pouts) but fanfiction writes itself...(shakes head) and gives me writer's block on the original stuff, though it has REALLY improved my ability as far as tackling characters goes.And b/c I had this done already, and next chapter too actually, and you made the wish, I updated ASAP...(grins) There was little reason after all, not to...) _**NefCanuck**_ (Thank you! It's...slowly going to get the better of them both...at least at first...(grins evily)...I'm fond of tension moments myself, though I don't know how good I am at them...(frowns) ah well...next chapter moves up a small notch...) _**heather**_ (You have Kikyo's hakama pants! (blinks and stares stupidly) I hope chloe didn't get too much black fur on them! Black on red...did you make the pants? My favorite article of clothing on Inuyasha has to be Kagura's kimono. I have a thing for kimonos, don't own any and I've never actually laid eyes on a decent one, but after reading Memoirs of a Geisha I have always been drawn to them...anyway, so the hakama pants made me blink...interesting...) And now for the preview!

_"Are you not attracted to Lady Kagome?"_

_It didn't seem physically possible, short of setting him on fire, but somehow the blush on Inuyasha's face grew several shades darker. His mouth hung open working the air like a dazed fish out of water for a moment before he stammered and finally spat out: "What the hell kinda question is that, Myoga!" _

_Again Myoga shifted, this time he was distinctly uncomfortable, "I don't see what the problem is, Master Inuyasha…"_

_The hanyou's mouth snapped shut and he blew out the first thing that came to mind, "She'd sit me so hard I'd wake up in hell!"_

Laters!


	17. Myoga

**Disclaimer:** Nope...not a chance...

**A/N:** Okay, to be honest I've never written Myoga into a story before and I've only watched him a little on the anime...though lastnight he was awesome (grins) anyway...just keep that in mind...also I''m SORRY! I've been away doing college things and writing my novel...(grins wide) the novel I'm falling in love with...and there was college orientation for three days and sleep deprivation, and then yesterday there was MYMiroku to hang with...he bought us lunch and then we went out to the Lake Superior beach...(sighs)...it was AWESOME! Then we went to Wal-mart. (sheepish grin) but no this guy and I aren't dating now and actually he behaved himself with me! No attempts to proclaim bogus love for me, no pokes in the side (his version of a groping you see). Anyway, so it was nice and platonic (is that how you spell that? Oh well...) anyway, so now I'm trying to update everything. I'ma little out of the fanfiction circle at the moment, this was already written so that's why it's posted so soon...it'll take a while longer for _WOAWO_ to be posted. But I'm not dead...not dead yet. THANK YOU! Everyone again! YAYS! Hope to hear from you lots...Enjoy! Oh! and a **Warning** for this chapter: Men, I know it creeps you out but I make mention of Kagome's period in this chapter, please forgive me...

**

* * *

****Myoga**

"If this has anything to do with Kagome…" Inuyasha growled through the dark, seemingly to himself, "I don't want to hear about it."

A little spot jumped up and down on his shoulder, demanding his attention though the hanyou continued to stare with a scowl straight ahead, his arms crossed angrily. "Master Inuyasha you know that's not true!"

Seemingly of their own will, Inuyasha's fingers rose up and snatched the little flea demon. He lifted the bloodsucker up in front of his face and continued his infamous scowling. "If you want to get smashed, Myoga, go on right ahead and keep talking!"

"Please! No! Master Inuyasha I've always served you faithfully! Just as I served your father before you! Please spare an old flea!"

The hanyou's fingers squished together threateningly, making Myoga squeak pitifully in his rather tight spot, "So this really _is_ about Kagome?" he grumbled, his voice sounding distinctly less angry than before—there was an edge of weariness to it now.

Myoga caught this undertone and was able to drudge up enough courage to squeak: "Yes!"

Inuyasha gave a sound that was half a sigh and half a growl and sank into a sitting position, his back against a good-sized tree trunk. Raising one knee up he set the flea demon there and then crossed his arms, frustrated, but resigned to listen to what the flea had to offer him. He barked out one command, sharply. "Spill!"

Sweating, Myoga shifted nervously and settled onto the hanyou's knee, wiping his brow off with the handkerchief he always carried with him for just such journeys. Inuyasha was notoriously temperamental, and he'd expected just such a reaction from him when he'd set out. Coward though he was Myoga never really neglected his job as the hanyou's "retainer" and he made semi-regular visits to share news, rumors, and information. With his many contacts—some of which didn't even know they _were_ contacts, they just thought they had periodical flea infestations—he could easily discover the answers to the Shard-hunters' various concerns.

It was through those contacts that he'd heard several rumors that he was interested in, so, naturally, he brought them to Inuyasha, to make his young master aware of them.

He started slowly, all-too aware of the fact that Inuyasha was irritated and on edge, "In my travels through lands somewhere to the east of here I came upon a group of wandering monks. They were coming up from the south, from a mountain temple where a very knowledgeable and legendary monk makes his home. You may have heard of him, Master Inuyasha. His name—"

"Smart-ass Saishi." Inuyasha's gaze burned the flea unflinchingly when he supplied the name and he waited silently without any further comment at all for Myoga to go on.

"Yes, the Great monk Saishi, you're right Master Inuyasha," _though as usual you're rude about it…_he thought to himself dryly, but was smart enough not to voice such a thought, because he _did_ value his life. He cleared his throat and went on, though he'd noticed that the hanyou was slowly growing more irritated, "These monks I was traveling with—"

"No, old man, get it right," Inuyasha snapped, "You were sucking them dry and hitching a ride on them." The ears folded backward, but there came no threatening fist, so Myoga merely threw a sharp glance at the hanyou for his usual rudeness and pressed on with his tale.

"As I was saying—these monks, Master Inuyasha, were saying that the Great Master Saishi was asking for all research on acts of nature and experiments and theories on time should be sent to him at once. They claimed he was researching a recent problem that had to do with—"

"I don't need to hear anymore." Inuyasha interrupted, his voice heavy now with something besides annoyance. "It's true, whatever you're thinking, Myoga. That damned monk is studying up on that sorta crap because we went to see him—right after the Bone Eater's Well refused to let Kagome pass through time." He sighed wearily, the intensity that had been burning away in his eyes dying now into depression. He turned his face away, "Kagome thinks that she's going to die because she doesn't belong here."

Myoga looked up sharply, making a startled, "Hmm?" noise in his throat. _Doesn't belong here? Going to die?_ "What do you mean, Master Inuyasha?"

"I mean that the well won't let Kagome go back to her time—she's stuck on this side of it, away from her family." The hanyou sounded thoroughly miserable, his ears were still folded backward.

"I understand that, Master Inuyasha, what I meant to ask was why does Kagome feel she doesn't belong here, on this side of time? Why would she die because of it?" the flea was fascinated by the idea. To him it was a marvel that time had allowed a mortal to pass at all. It defied everything that made sense to him, and yet he couldn't deny that Kagome made the journey—she was too strange to be anything but a genuine mortal from 500 years into the future. The only way it made sense to him at all was when he thought of her soul—she was the reincarnation of the powerful priestess Kikyo who'd been unfairly cut down 50 years previously, at the same time that Inuyasha had been sealed to the God Tree.

In Myoga's mind there were no accidents. Kikyo had died and Inuyasha had been pinned, effectively time-traveling himself. Later Kagome traveled, bearing the same soul as Kikyo, to awaken and reanimate the hanyou. He'd always secretly been amused at how the story played out for his young master and the human woman's soul who he always seemed to be drawn to, whether that soul bore the name Kikyo or Kagome, failed to matter to the flea. Why couldn't the hanyou or the reincarnated miko see this coincidence? Why couldn't they see that as long as they were with one another _any_ time period seemed to fit them…_why wouldn't Kagome feel that she belongs here? If she didn't belong here she wouldn't have fallen through that well in the first place…_Inuyasha glared back at the flea andMyoga flinched, expecting some future torture for sure, and his thoughts were immediately erased.

"Kagome wasn't born here." He muttered, using the most blatant example of Kagome's thoughts that he could come up with.

The hanyou, for his part in this, had long since gotten used to Kagome's thoughts on where she belonged—and it wasn't 500 years in what she considered still to be the past. She had theories that made his skull hurt when he tried to understand them, that explained her more frightening worries. He'd shared a few of her nightmares through the link before: dreams where she faded away like a ghost, everyone forgetting that she'd ever existed. There'd been dreams where she was violently ill and then she died, her soul lost and scattered, without an afterlife to flee to when she passed on because she was outside her proper era in time. In others she agonized over "changing" something. He knew she was afraid of the outcome of some wars that had yet to happen for a few hundred years or so. He knew she worried about stopping others from being born just by stepping on a bug or by waving hello to the villagers they passed…

Inuyasha didn't really understand these fears—they didn't make all that much sense to him. When he'd been in the future nothing terrible had happened, and Kagome had lived three years coming and going between her era and theirs. Why should it now be a problem? Yet, though he'd tried to push her fears aside through the link, Kagome remained relentlessly terrified over failing to find the "chain of events" that Saishi had said would restore the well…determined to open the well so she could run away from him again.

_Idiot! What's she running away from? Nothing! It's **me** that's running away! **Me!**_

Myoga's voice caught his attention then, making the hanyou's ears pop up, attentively. "Master Inuyasha?"

"Yeah, old man?"

"Why would Kagome believe that where she was born would matter so much? We do not always die in the same place we were born…and none of us die at the exact moment we are born either." The little flea demon frowned, thoughtfully, "Perhaps we should ask her…"

Inuyasha cringed and pressed a clawed finger swiftly to the flea's body, squishing him in place thoroughly. "No, not a chance! She'll babble about all sorts of shit I don't understand. It makes my ears hurt—if _you_ wanna ask her about it you go ahead, but only _after _you're finished with me." he growled, waiting until he felt the flea squirm before he lifted up his finger and ended the imprisoning pressure.

Almost pouting, Myoga settled back down with a huff, throwing Inuyasha a none-too obvious indignant glare. "Tell me, Master Inuyasha…"

"Yeah, Myoga?" one of Inuyasha's eyebrows cocked upwards, anticipating the flea's next topic and preparing to crush the pest already.

"There's a second rumor I heard just a day ago while I was on my way to find you. It's being spread through the wolves. They say that a certain Lord Kouga is outraged that "his" woman, young Lady Kagome I believe, has been claimed by—"

The voice stopped abruptly as Inuyasha's palm squashed the tiny demon, growling with irritation. He left his hand keeping the flea pinned and crushed against his knee for several seconds until abruptly he felt a small pinprick of pain and he flinched, ripping his hand away and picking the bloodsucker away with the claws of the other. He cursed under his breath and lifted the rounder, slightly more engorged flea to chuck him into the forest but Myoga's words caught his attention before he could.

"_Master Inuyasha1 Wait! You don't know anything about youkai mating!"_

He paused, wondering if it was worth answering—probably it wasn't. The way Inuyasha saw it humans and demons had different rituals but truth was they reproduced in the same old fashion any way you cut it: sex. Either Myoga had forgotten that he wasn't a little pup like Shippo anymore or the flea was deliberately goading Inuyasha into pausing before he threw the bloodsucker like a Frisbee. _Either that or there really is something I don't know…_

Curiosity and his insulted "manhood" made him pause and bring the flea back, closer to his face, in one palm. "Look Myoga—I'm not a pup—I know _damn_ well what people like Miroku are thinking, and I know what all the howling those wolves are doing is _really_ about. The next time you make the mistake of thinking I'm that young again I'll—"

"Master Inuyasha! I assure you that I _know_ you are properly aged to understand all this." Myoga got comfortable again, crossing his arms and bowing his head a little, "After all, you began a link with young Lady Kagome to claim her as a mate, did you not?"

He growled, frustrated, embarrassed. Inuyasha looked away, feigning disgust when he was actually blushing bright red, "Feh!"

"You did." Myoga nodded his head once and ignored Inuyasha's further blustering and foolish denial. "I'm certain of this—your behavior explains more to me than the rumors ever could have."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" he hissed, his fist threatening to close over the little demon.

"It means…" Myoga began, struggling to spit his words out hurriedly to avoid being squished, "I remember very well the way your father acted when his soul reached out for your mother's in just the same way!"

Inuyasha paused, still as stone, shocked. After a long pause he blinked and asked, in a calm tone that made Myoga shudder, "What did you say…?"

"I said, Master Inuyasha," he stuttered a little, worried that Inuyasha, who was infinitely more temperamental in comparison with his father and brother, might not handle it well, "That your father discovered your mother in the same way—through a link he did not truly _know_ he had formed. It is a linking made by the souls, not by the minds."

For a brief moment Inuyasha thought he would throw up, but after he'd closed his eyes and focused on breathing and growling at the little flea demon instead, it passed. "So…" he grumbled, voice low, "What am I supposed to do!"

Myoga blinked up at him as if Inuyasha had asked him if the sky was blue in the daytime. "You're linked with her, Master Inuyasha—she has accepted it, yes?"

Inuyasha's ears fell back, "Uh…"

"Good." Myoga nodded, pleased with himself and with the hanyou's responses, though they weren't eloquent. That didn't matter at all. The little flea demon easily remembered how Inutaisho had been the same way, though he had worked harder to keep his astonishment and confusion away from the surface and focused more on the details. He gazed up from the hanyou's palm, "Any other questions?"

"Yeah! You never answered my first question, old man! What the hell am I supposed to do about this damn link thing?" the white fangs gleamed beyond the lips briefly while he snarled.

The same clear look that screamed, "DUH!" came from Myoga a second time. He paused, shifted for a moment, and then glanced back at Inuyasha before he answered, "You mate with Lady Kagome of course."

Immediately Inuyasha's face was bright red. "_What?"_

"Are you not attracted to Lady Kagome?"

It didn't seem physically possible, short of setting him on fire, but somehow the blush on Inuyasha's face grew several shades darker. His mouth hung open working the air like a dazed fish out of water for a moment before he stammered and finally spat out: "What the hell kinda question is that, Myoga!"

Again Myoga shifted, this time he was distinctly uncomfortable, "I don't see what the problem is, Master Inuyasha…"

The hanyou's mouth snapped shut and he blew out the first thing that came to mind, "She'd sit me so hard I'd wake up in hell!"

"Hardly! She has accepted your claim on her! She _wants_ to be your mate!" he shook his head a little and uttered a terse but genuinely amused laugh, "I always thought the two of you worked well together…"

Immediately Inuyasha's fist tightened crushingly around the little flea. "We can't _be_ mates, old man, do you hear me? Got that through your thick little skull yet!"

"Please Master Inuyasha! Spare me! I meant no harm!"

With a frustrated huff Inuyasha chucked the flea over his shoulder and pushed himself to his feet, his face set firmly in a scowl. _Well that was a complete waste of time…_ He started to walk away, ignoring the frantic calls of the little demon from behind him.

"Wait! Wait! Master Inuyasha! You must listen to me!"

"I can't hear you over those damned wolves anyway, Myoga." He snarled, still tramping away, ears laid back. The tree branches reached out and slapped at him, like he imagined Kagome's angry hands would if she could've heard the pathetic flea's arguments…_just like Kagome is sure she doesn't belong here in this era I know she and I can never be mates, link or not…_But even as he thought that a few of Myoga's words sank in on his consciousness from behind him.

"Master Inuyasha! With the link established on both sides you won't be able to stop yourself!"

He halted, ears flicking forward and backward, confused, uncertain. _Turn back or ignore him…_he sighed as the undeniable fact settled over him that those words he couldn't ignore, it just wasn't possible. _If what he's saying were true…wouldn't I have already tried to grope Kagome or something? But I don't need any prayer beads over my right hand just yet; I'm no Miroku…_

Giving in, he turned to face the little flea as Myoga jumped toward him, grunting with the effort it took him to leap the distance from the ground to the hanyou's palm again. While the flea got himself settled Inuyasha snarled his question, "Okay, this better be worth my time—what are you talking about old man?"

"Shortly you and Lady Kagome will be driven by instinct to consummate the link that was created and become complete mates, in every sense. Next—"

"Not gonna happen Myoga!" he growled, glaring.

"No Master Inuyasha! You don't understand! This month is the wolf demon's mating season and the neko and panther youkai as well, but _next_ month is the season of the inuyoukai! When that time comes you and Lady Kagome will be coerced into—"

"Shut _up!_ Kagome and I already agreed that nothing like that is gonna happen, damn it!" he hated the heat in his cheeks, the way his hands were sweating, his mouth completely dry…_I'm only a half-demon! It won't affect me! I hope…_

Myoga stared, confused, baffled. He shook his head, "What? You did?"

The way Inuyasha's ears fell back again, twitching, didn't support his snarled answer: "Yes!" he knew his face must be flushed furiously again, and he knew the flea could see he was lying.

"Why do you resist this, Inuyasha?" his tiny retainer asked, head cocked to one side, perplexed. "Is it because of the dead priestess?" at Inuyasha's briefly flared canines at the suggestion, Myoga quickly supplied a second guess, one he suspected was far more accurate, "Is it because you will outlive her?" when the hanyou looked away, amber eyes glowing fiercely, Myoga nodded silently understanding.

He took a deep breath and announced, "Well, I don't know why I didn't realize that was the problem sooner!" he chuckled and met Inuyasha's curious, but distinctly hopeful stare with an absent shrug, "Well, you'll just have to make the best of what time you do have, Master Inuyasha!"

The hanyou's mouth parted in an outraged snarl, "You little…" he started to clench his fist shut to punish the flea but Myoga leapt before he could finish the motion, leaving Inuyasha cursing and darting after him, trying to snatch the insect up. "I _knew_ I should've eaten you the first time I met you as a pup!" he hissed, rubbing his shoulder after he toppled clumsily into a tree trunk, and watching as Myoga jumped away into the night.

In the relative silence (it was silent if you didn't count the frenzied wolf calls) that followed his "retainer's" exit, Inuyasha slumped against the tree's sturdy weight and let out a long, heavy sigh of frustration. His hands were balled up into tight fists. His ears smashed flat to his skull.

But the only thing he could bring himself to say for the situation was: "Damn."

* * *

"So…" Sango's warm chocolaty eyes smirked to where Kagome had just started to relax in the steaming bathwater across from her, "Kagome…" 

The young miko cracked one eye open and tried to keep her mouth from quirking in a frown at the demon slayer. She knew exactly where this was going, and it wasn't anywhere good. "No, Sango, I haven't the slightest idea what Inuyasha and Myoga talked about while they were alone last night." She sighed.

"How did you—"

Now Kagome opened both eyes, lifted her head from where it had been resting at the edge of the wood-framed tub, and made a 'Tsk' sound with her tongue. "Really Sango I've watched you and Miroku look at Inuyasha and I all day like there was some sort of conspiracy going on between us!" she pinned the slayer with a serious stare, "I've told you that he has our link closed." She frowned at her own words, hating the thought herself, "He's really being careful to shut me out this time…long story short: I know only as much as you and Miroku do."

To hide her nervousness Sango leaned back as Kagome had before she'd started talking. She stretched a little, her calves brushed against Kagome's thighs. She moaned, "Oh, I'm _so_ glad we didn't have to spend another night away from a village." Her breath was heavy, lethargic. Kagome smiled warmly at it, nodding though Sango wasn't looking at her, didn't even have her eyes open.

"Yeah, especially with those wolves!" she laughed.

Sango prayed that Kagome missed the way she tensed abruptly, the way her smile was feigned. _Wolf mating season..._The conversation died—but the heat of the bath was enough to explain that in Kagome's mind. The demon slayer's toes brushed Kagome's thigh again, tickling the schoolgirl. She bit her lip to restrain the giggle that tried to break through her, tried to disturb the beautiful peace, the calm simplicity…

There was a flutter in her mind from the link, making her blink a little in surprise. Inuyasha had left her alone within her own mind for the entire day. She might've tried to get him to loosen it at least a little, but every time she threw a glare at him or nudged him through the connection the hanyou threw her such heated glares…she far preferred to keep the peace rather than stir such horrendous wrath. So although the quiet inside her mind, the _oneness_ off it bothered her deep down to even her soul, Kagome had nevertheless let it pass, forced it from her conscious, thinking mind.

But now she felt Inuyasha monitoring her again, rather sharply. She frowned confusedly through the steam. Sango's breath whistled soothingly, deep and relaxed…Kagome wanted to follow that, to let go of Inuyasha's strange, bristling thoughts…she moved a little, the water trickling with little sounds as she did. Baths certainly were a blessing, warm water was a thousand times preferable to a lake or a river…she shivered just thinking about it!

Something tightened in her abdomen and she frowned with the minor discomfort before sharp shock made her sit bolt upright in the water. It splashed around her as she did, startling Sango into looking to her with alarm. "Kagome…?"

Immediately the miko started up blushing. _If everything were normal I would've been home to check a calendar…_she resisted the urge to curse, thinking it far too similar to Inuyasha than she wanted to admit. A mixture of pain, blank terror, and embarrassment clouded her features as she tried to meet Sango's concerned expression. "Uh…Sango?"

Now Sango's deep brown eyes had grown a little suspicious. "What is it Kagome? What's wrong? Does it have something to do with Inuyasha?"

Despite herself Kagome's blush intensified, though her words were the complete truth. "No! Why would it! The link's closed anyway," she started to ease herself up and away from the warm bathwater, though she was loath to leave it. Inside her mind Inuyasha was digging at her, though she sensed it was without truly meaning to—she realized he was drowsy from a bath of his own with Miroku and Shippo, half asleep. _He's calling out to me when he's not even thinking about it…_she wasn't sure if that meant something that was either good for her or bad…

"Then what's wrong?" Sango started to sit up too, but Kagome waved at her, not wanting to destroy the demon exterminator's bath.

"Stay in there Sango, it's nothing…" she swallowed her embarrassment and spat out the problem hurriedly, knowing Sango would understand, "I just forgot that my period is due…"

Sango's face clouded with pity. "Oh…" she watched with worried eyes as Kagome swiftly dug up her towel and began to change into her tattered and very dirty school uniform. "Kagome?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever…" Sango pursed her lips, wondering how to suggest it to her friend without hurting her. "…Think about wearing a kimono? Maybe you ought to put the uniform away, it's…" she tried to cover her sympathetic frown, "Your only one…"

Kagome was glad she had her back turned to Sango, she couldn't stop the shiver of pain that passed through her, that made her arms hesitate as she fixed the tiny green skirt around her hips. _Sango's right…everything that's in my bag now I have to preserve, I'll probably never have anymore of any of it._ Her mind reeled at the thought and she nearly stumbled, but covered the unsteady movement with a calculated drop to her knees to gather up her shampoos and soaps.

She didn't face Sango as she turned to head out, but rather called over her shoulder, in as steady a voice as she could manage: "I'll think about that Sango…good point."

Stepping out into the hallway, sliding the door closed behind her, Kagome hurried back through the shadowy passageways of this village's inn, trying to find the right room. The twinge in her abdomen came again, a none too subtle reminder that she had to hurry…but all the rooms looked the same! Voices whispered through the hallways, none that she recognized. The sliding doors of each sleeping room around her seemed to tease her, all identical. _Why didn't I pay attention to the direction when Sango and I were escorted to the bath!_ Well, she _had_ expected to follow Sango back, and between the two of them she knew they'd figure it out—but alone…?

Frustration peaked and she let out a strangled curse: "To hell with it! I'll just go and ask someone!" she turned and started to head back toward the bath as fast as her bare, white-stocking-ed feet could carry her. As she headed back the way she'd come, her mind preoccupied with finding the innkeeper, she didn't notice that some of her bristling annoyance was not, in fact, her own: it was Inuyasha's.

She rounded the corner and bumped right into the hanyou's growling—_bare_—chest. Blinking with surprise she had no time to compose herself before the heat reached her cheeks and she caught herself admiring his exposed muscles, rippling under his healthy, warm skin. She didn't have to be touching him to feel the rumble of power his snarling growl possessed, didn't need to wonder why the deep sound set something strange off inside her that wiped the rest of the world right off her radar.

But her ogling admiration was cut short when Inuyasha's clawed hand reached out and grabbed her chin, turning her face to his. _That_ was far less pleasant when compared with the flex of his body as he breathed, she thought, momentarily stunned out of all higher brain power. His eyes were glaring slits; she could see _and_ feel his annoyance with her. The white dog-ears flicked left and right independently of one another, taking stock of the room around them. His silver hair was dripping wet and one hand clutched his red haori and cream-white under shirt.

"You are _not_ going to go bug someone because _you_ weren't smart enough to pay attention to where our room is, bitch. Do you understand?" he growled, eyeing her with his usual arrogant but mindless anger.

For the first time she realized the link was partially open to her. She pushed her confusion at that discovery away in favor of returning his anger. Her hands jumped to her hips, "Inuyasha—don't call me that! And stop treating me like a child! I can take care of myself!"

"You can't even find your way to the damn room without my help!" he huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, making Kagome's mind stutter and reel for a moment as she registered his exposed upper body again and fought a blush…she didn't miss the slight twitch of his lips that told her he was struggling not to smirk at her reaction. Through the link she felt his wave of smug amusement.

Her fists clenched up, "I. Can. Take. Care. Of. Myself." She reiterated, punctuating each word with an annoyed tap of her bare foot. "I don't need any help—especially not from _you."_ She forced her thoughts to stay deep within her, hoping to shelter them from the link. If he knew she was trying to make him tweak and insult her enough that she could use the rosary against him to get away from his much-too-confident-bare-chested presence, chances were that Inuyasha would turn the tables. She prayed he'd keep the link mostly closed…

"Feh! Bitch!" he blurted, ears flattening, "You're hopeless!" but even through his grouchy words, which escaped him without thought and without concentration, Inuyasha was distracted by the warm smell drifting from her—the remnants of the bath—the strands of her messy wet hair, the shine of life in her eyes as she glared at him, and the surge of her female hormones underlying everything else…part of him realized that the situation might blow up on him if he toyed with her when she was at just _that_ point in her cycle…

Instinct caught hold of his behavior when he saw Kagome's face crease with anger and frustration. _Yep, need to diffuse this or she and I won't be speaking for a while…_He grabbed hold of her hand and started to lead her down the hall, grumbling to himself. She was stiff behind him. He tested the link and found that she was struggling to keep her thoughts and emotions from him, but despite her attempts he caught the hints of an uneasiness that he was all-too familiar with himself…_she wants to get away from me because…_he tried to keep the smug grin off his face, glad that she was behind him and couldn't see it.

"Where are you taking me?" she whined behind him, pulling faintly against his clawed grip.

"To the room bitch! Cause you're too dumb to remember where it is!" through the link he shot a different thought at her, trying to placate her: _There's no way in all seven hells that I'd let you stroll up and ask some village idiot! They'd probably kidnap you!_ He smirked when he felt her surprise at the admission, though at the same time it bothered him. Didn't she know he was always trying to look out for her, protect her? Hell! He lived for it! Somehow he'd been under the impression that she already understood that…

He found the room that was theirs and forced the door open, growling under his breath as he stepped aside for her to enter, crossing his arms over his chest even as he sensed Kagome's eyes roving over his form appreciatively. It was all he could do to hide the smirk. His ears flicked when she stood still, in the doorway, looking back at his unmoving form. "What are you waiting for?"

Kagome stared back at him frankly, "Aren't you coming in?"

"Feh! No."

She looked disappointed for a moment and then frowned thoughtfully, her gaze changing from confused to almost suspicious, "You left your bath just to make sure I'd find the room?" her voice was hesitant.

The amber eyes blinked, his expression said 'So what?' loud and clear. But instead of speak he snorted and turned his back to her, stomping down the hall like a moody teenager. Kagome slid the door closed slowly, her mind clouded with confusion, like mud stirred from the bottom of a lake to dirty otherwise clean and clear water. She moved toward her backpack, sighing as she knelt beside it and started to dig through it…a thought that Inuyasha failed to control passed through their link and spilled into her mind loud and clear—though she was certain he couldn't have meant it to come to her.

_(Of **course** I left the bath to help Kagome! Feh! If I hadn't some lovesick moron from this damned village would be **sure** to see her and hang all over her—ah shit! There I go again, thinking about her like she's…mine? I gotta stop thinking like this…but **damn** did she smell good!)_

Kagome grinned, slapping a hand over her lips as she started to giggle. _Well…that's interesting…_

* * *

_Endnotes:_ THANK YOU ALL! But I have to hurry, fireworks... 

THANK YOU: **FanstasyFreak, Simonkal of Inyu**(You wrote such a long, thorough revew! WOW! I'd love to go through and answer everything carefully but I'm in a hurry...anything that's not cleared up just go ahead and ask again and I'll answer next time I update) **toxiclollipop** (She might be able to learn to...you're right, it'd really get him. The human mind is powerful and adaptive, though Inu's is already set to work it, which gives him the advantage.) **Tiamath** (I NEED help with that summary...HELP! I BEG! I think Readers would know what this is about better than I do by now actually...I try to make it too complicated. And THANK YOU! That was like THE biggest compliment (sniffles)) **Yami Chikara** (Thank you for bringing that up...(gulps) I hadn't actually realized that technically they're related...it must be the incest in me--my grandparents were distantly related...ugh...long story...) **inuyasha'sbabe07** (She's still about...) **QueenTatooine** (THANK YOU! The poetic verses are other's, but I tried to credit the bands on the disclaimer. I'm going to use my own poems and my sister's for them now on the occasional chapter...I hope...) **NefCanuck, SlummyRedDragon** (sorry...) **LukeShaehl **(Good question! Kagome is merely human, and the link is an inuyoukai mating trait. She isn't accustomed to it at least. She might be able to learn though...In the meantime Inuyasha, as the unknowing starter of the link, has the advantage.)** Inuadmirer** (I'm glad, exams are evil!) **freelke** (hehe...usually for me it does, though lately my novel has come easier than this stuff...) **sarah,** **Heather **(Cloud of Sparrows? Who's it by and what's it about? I LOVE good reading...Tales of the Otori was my latest book, not counting the Retrievers novels by Laura Anne Gilman. All very fine stuff. I have to read a lot to be able to write this way...takes practice...)

Well that's it, sorry it was so long in coming...THANK YOU ALL! I have to get going, and I don't have a preview, sorry...(whimpers) but I must go...Later!


	18. Venom

**Disclaimer:** Nope, I'm poor, I don't own this.

**A/N:** For those of you following the Mrs. H and Souta line (and for those of you who weren't) this beginning piece might very well be worth reading just so you can have your interest peaked. (winks) anyway...Worked pretty much all week on this update to be honest, in my spare moments on campus. Thus I am worried that I am OFF, as in I SUCK-eth. I trust you all to tell me how I do...but I did however, finda nice way to tie up all loose ends and such... like...(cough-cough)Kikyo(cough-cough). And Naraku, who, everybody throw a party, makes a brief appearance in this chapter. THIS is the chapter that the story changes pace. Mrs. H's story takes off, as does the Feudal Era story. We had tension before...now we have like angst and then tragedy! Yeah you know you hate me (grins) but seriously...tell me what you think...oh and for notes: **Mamushi** is a type of poisonous Japanese snake. I didn't research much, if at all, so please...if I'm wrong and its actually Chinese, or it lives on the wrong Japanese island...please, cut me some slack! It's almost midterm here at NMU and currently I'm writing this at 12:45 AM from my bed on my laptopwith a math test in some 13 hours or so from now that I NEED to do okay on b/c I FAILED the last one and I have so much other crap going on...what am I talking about? I love you guys ad you've neve ronce flamed me. So i trust you...well review and tell me how you liked this or how you hated it, I am always open for constructive criticism. Love! Shilyn

**P.S.** Also you'll notice Kagura and Kanna in this. I know Kagura's dead, and I saw a scroll where Kanna actually had personality and a will of her own. B/c I like these characters and they're familiar to me, I stuck with them. Sorry if it bothers you...but I wrote like a last line anda paragrpah in sort of requiem for Kagura and Kanna in particular b/c of the display of will I saw Kanna demonstrate recently. Also, Inu's got a POTTY MOUTH this chapter. Oh and Shippo, at the very end, is mixing up this chapter's traumatic events with his past. I know it'd be an absolute nightmare for meto be in his shoes...Yeah, that's it from me. Night!

**

* * *

Venom**

"Hello? Is Miss Kagome Keshikaran able to come to the phone?" just as Souta had when he'd made his phone call to Kari, I spun the phone cord around my fingers, as if trying to braid them or weave them together. I was clenching my jaw so tightly that my teeth creaked, pain shot up through my skull.

"Is this for some credit card offer? Cuz if it is—I don't want it." A wary, annoyed voice snapped into my ear.

Cringing, I tried to keep my words from shaking when I answered by looking to Souta, who was pacing through the kitchen idly, hands clasped behind his back as if he were some kind of soldier. "No, this is Mrs. Higurashi from the Higurashi Shrine. I've called for my research into some of Tokyo's oldest families. I'm researching the family legends and myths…"

Despite myself my voice croaked and caught, the sentence died, unfinished. I took a shuddering breath, my face burning when I felt and saw Souta's concerned gaze land on me. From the other line there was a long, meaningful pause, and for a moment I almost thought that I'd lost her, and then—"What did you say your name was?"

"Mrs. Kira Higurashi from the Higurashi Shrine. I'm looking into the background of the Tetsusaiga family's legend…" frantically I looked to Souta, having forgotten the proper name, but the Keshikaran woman on the other line spoke before I could.

"I know the legend, yes."

For a moment I didn't know what to say, and couldn't manage to speak at all. Souta noticed my panicky expression and reached for my hand, smiling gently. He looked so much like his father…pain swilled about in my chest, I fought the sting of old tears from old wounds. I couldn't afford to ruin what we'd discovered because I was nervous. I wasn't doing it for me, I was doing it for Souta, Kagome, and for Toshi. It pained me to know that Toshi would never beam with pride at how much Souta had grown. How handsome and dashing he'd become. I prayed he could see him anyway…

I swallowed hard, trying to push aside the fear. "Miss Kagome Keshikaran, I was wondering if you could tell me about the Tetsusaiga family's origin myth. I understand that your family is related to them…?"

Again I noticed with a quiet worry that there was a long, deep silence, as if the Keshikaran woman were weighing things out and debating on whether she could lie to me. Finally she spoke: "Your name is _Kira Higurashi._ Of the Higurashi Shrine in Tokyo, correct?" the edge to her voice made something inside me shudder.

"Yes, that is my name…" I frowned into the phone, and turned away from Souta as he gestured, trying to get me to fill him in.

"Do you have any children? A son maybe? Or…a daughter?"

"Yes, I have one son." I tried to keep my voice from choking at the admission, but failed. "My daughter…"

"Disappeared?" Kagome Keshikaran supplied, stealing my breath away. I faintly heard Souta clamoring at me from behind, no doubt driven insane with curiosity.

"How did…?" once again she didn't wait for me to blunder into questions. When she spoke again her voice was short and clipped, but tense with something. Whether it was fear or excitement or anger I couldn't begin to guess. But I know one thing: my hands were shaking and I felt as if I might vomit into the phone. What was she going to tell me? What did this woman who shared my lost daughter's name _know?_

"We need to talk. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yes—" I think by that time I'd gone cross-eyed.

"Good. I'll come by the Shrine to pray and visit with you, Mrs. Higurashi. Until then, good bye."

"Good—" but the phone line was already dead, and Souta was screaming for answers at the top of his lungs now that there was no one but me to hear his questions.

"What the hell happened! What did she say! Mom! C'mon! Talk to me here!"

There was only one thing I could bring myself to say as I looked up at his bright, eager eyes, the impatient set of his lips, half way between a grimace and a grin—the same expression Toshi wore the day we were married.

I sighed. "I need a drink."

* * *

"It won't be long now." Naraku's red eyes glimmered as he stared at Kanna's tiny white form as she held the mirror up for him to see. A smirk caught hold of her master's thin, narrow lips. "Yes, Inuyasha is a fool. That girl's soul is only loosely connected to this world. He shouldn't ever let her out of his sight, especially now—but being the fool he is…" 

"Kagura!" he snapped, a slight irritation starting in his face. The smug wind demon appeared, snapping her fan casually. Since Naraku had made a blunder and lost most of his Jewel Shards to Inuyasha's group, the free-spirited, spiteful Kagura had grown more brazen and disobedient.

"You rang?" she drawled, rolling her eyes, which were eerily similar to her master's, though she used them in an entirely different way.

"Send Mamushi to follow Inuyasha and his comrades. Tell him that the moment she is alone, he must attack and bite the Shard-carrier. If he can kill her," he smiled dryly, "I will share half of the Shards she carries with him as payment." A lie of course. If Mamushi wasn't killed for his actions by the enraged hanyou, then upon returning, Naraku would kill the snake demon, just to assure that he reaped all of the benefits.

Kagura snapped her fan, her lips pinched tightly, "Right away." She growled.

Naraku turned his attention back on the mirror, red eyes narrowing in what might have started as thought, but eventually became a mixture of disgust and amusement. "Yes, he is a fool indeed. It is finally time that I crushed him and Kikyo's reincarnation."

In Kanna's mirror the undead miko's reincarnation was stumbling through a dim forest, bitter, frustrated tears coursing down her pale face. Naraku's leering smile grew savage. "Yes, I'm sure Mamushi can crush them both—together, as it was meant to be." His cackling laughter was low and dry as he finally turned away, releasing Kanna from his hold.

The mirror flashed once and then dulled, the room that housed the little girl, so shrouded in white, dimmed until it was pitch black and the only light within the room at all came from Kanna's body, a small, eerie glow. Slowly, as if praying, she bowed her head.

The darkness swallowed her up.

* * *

_Sango was worried about her. Kagome could see it shining in her friend's wide brown eyes, feel it in the hand touching her shoulder, brushing against her cheeks. Weakly—her facial muscles seemed frozen, it was all she could do to make them move at all—she tried to smile. She wanted Sango to be happy, wanted the demon slayer to turn her attention away._

_No one could save her from Fate. She'd always known she was destined for a fate such as this, ever since the well had closed off. She didn't belong 500 years in Japan's past, she didn't belong with Inuyasha, Shippo, Sango, Miroku, Kilala or Kaede. The battle with Naraku was only hers because she'd destroyed the Jewel, because she could sense the Shards. But otherwise she was an intruder, she was a fish out f water. _

_Fish died outside of water, they drowned in the air, suffocating. There were 500 years of time for her to drown in, it was amazing that she'd lasted as long as she had without the well offering her the connection to the 20th century. It was long since past time that she fade from them, that she grow sick, or vanish into the depths of time, or die by circumstances beyond her control. What would it be like to have the universe swallow her whole as punishment for invading a time that was not her own?_

_But her friends…she hated the thought of their tears, especially when she knew that she was the cause. _

"_Kagome, will you be all right?" there was a sparkle in Sango's eyes, a glimmer that made Kagome's heart squeeze up, as if Naraku himself had closed his fist around the delicate organ. Pain burned in her chest, crept into her throat. She struggled to swallow the lump growing there. _

"_I'm fine, Sango." Again she felt the stiffness of her facial muscles, struggled to move them into something that might just pass as a smile. "Don't cry for me…" she saw her own hand stretch out toward the demon slayer, searching for the comfort that would come from touching her friend's warm, healthy living skin. Yet, instead of the pain and worry she'd seen on Sango's face mere moments before, now Kagome saw the slayer's mouth fall open in horror. _

"_Kagome!" she fell backward, scooting away from the schoolgirl's sleeping bag. More tears clouded her eyes, reddening her face. "Kagome, what…"_

_As Sango's voice broke off, Kagome realized with a jolt what frightened Sango. It was her hands, they were transparent. Terror ripped through her, air rushed in and out of her lungs so fast and harsh that her throat stung. A shudder passed through her and her throat closed up. _

_She couldn't breathe. _

"_Kagome! What's wrong! Why—you're disappearing!" Moving toward her swiftly, Sango's hands touched her shoulder, shaking her. "Kagome!" she screamed, one of her hands moved to Kagome's face, her cheeks, and the schoolgirl felt Sango's fingertips—they were clawed?_

_With a second shudder she drew in a breath, and suddenly darkness descended. The frantic sound of Sango's voice changed and lowered, deepening. Soon it wasn't Sango's voice speaking to her at all. "Kagome! Wake up you stupid…Kagome!" the hand one her shoulder gripped harder, squeezing._

"_Kagome!"_

* * *

"Are you awake yet, wench?" 

She blinked unsteadily up at a pair of very familiar, annoyed gold eyes. "What?" she mumbled, her head spinning with the remnants of her horror and pain from her dream.

The hanyou's lips tightened, his face twisted in what she knew was supposed to be frustration or irritation, but in the warm, hesitant glow of his golden eyes Kagome could see the hidden truth. Inuyasha was worried about her. The hand on her shoulder, clawed but certainly not Sango's as she'd made it out to be in her dream world, squeezed gently once, reassuringly.

"You were crying in your sleep, stupid." His words were gruff, but not with annoyance as she knew he wanted her to think.

"I was…?" lifting careful fingers up to her cheeks, Kagome gasped when she felt the moisture. So she really had cried…

For the first time, Kagome realized that it was still the middle of the night. Their campsite was pitch black, gloomier than Naraku's miasma. When she held her breath she could make out the sounds of the others, all of them unaware of the happenings around them. Shippo mumbled in his sleep and nuzzled closer to her, and across the fire Kagome was sure she heard Sango shifting, slapping at an unseen pervert's groping hand.

"Feh. Yeah, you were. Just…" when she looked up at him mid way through the sentence, Inuyasha's voice faltered a little, and he swallowed roughly, scowling. "Just don't do it again." He grumbled, pulling away from her.

With the loss of his touch on her shoulder, Kagome felt her link with the hanyou stir for the first time since she'd been shaken awake. It flared, as if coming awake as well, and Kagome felt Inuyasha's mind with a sudden, sharp clarity. She realized that Inuyasha had shared her dream, or at least knew of it as his thoughts trickled over his mind and into hers.

_(She's not going anywhere, dammit! Stupid girl always thinking she's going to vanish on us! Feh! As if she could! Nothing disappears like that! Stupid girl and her stupid ideas…doesn't belong here my ass! She doesn't **want** to be here! That's the truth!)_

She watched the hanyou lope off; back toward the tree he'd taken residence in for the night. His back was stiff, his gait jerky. She noticed the flash of his ears, white twitching against the blackness. Timidly, regretfully, she tried to touch his mind with her own, tried to call out to him, to comfort the rawness she felt inside him at such thoughts…the rejection, the bitterness…but his thoughts didn't stop. Soon she was sitting still, fearing that if she moved she would shatter like glass.

_(Kikyo never pulled this sort of shit. She never cared about time, never wanted to leave me for a couple days to take some shitty "test" thing for "school." Kikyo never wanted to leave me for Hobos and ugly, smelly, mangy wolves. She just wanted to be with me…)_

Angrily, with an old, aching bitterness of her own, Kagome closed her eyes, forcing out the image of the hanyou settling into his tree. Indelicately she wrenched her mind from his, closing herself off. She squeezed her eyes so tightly shut that she feared her eyeballs would burst. Despite her best efforts, the tears stung and burned anyway, a few oozed out, slipping down her cheeks.

There was a rustling sound from the tree where she knew Inuyasha was nestled, and a low growl of frustration. Kagome paused, tensing, holding her breath. A mixture of fear and anger tore through her. Fear because she didn't want to face the hanyou's wrath, anger because she hated herself for crying at all.

A thump on the ground made her eyes snap open again. Inuyasha was crouched, just as she'd expected, on all fours at the foot of his tree only a few feet away. "This is getting old." he grumbled.

"Leave me alone!" Kagome hissed, pulling herself upright and glaring at the hanyou through the darkness. She _knew_ he could see her face, read her expression.

Inuyasha stumbled back, ears flicking with alarm. "Bitch!"

"Just…_leave_…" she bit her lips and the insides of her cheeks, fighting the vicious sobs that threatened to spill out of her with the pain. Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kilala were all still sleeping, or so she hoped. The last thing she wanted to do was waking them because of something she'd overheard Inuyasha thinking. _How could I have been so stupid to believe him when he said he didn't want Kikyo anymore? It's just like Mom always said, can't teach an old dog new tricks._

A small noise from the hanyou made her hold her breath, half-terrified as she realized that Inuyasha's mind had slipped onto the edges of her own, listening. "Kagome—"

She rolled over inside her sleeping bag, keeping her eyes tightly shut. "Go away, Inuyasha." She muttered.

His mind pushed against hers through the link. His frustrated anger and outrage was momentarily her own in the wild fray. _Not until you listen to me, bitch!_

_I don't want to listen, I just want to sleep…_the tears threatened in her eyes again, but she fought them stubbornly.

_You just want to run away back to your own time, dammit! That's what this is about!_ She nearly gasped when she felt his hard, calloused hands touch her shoulder, her neck. Fingers brushed briefly through her hair.

_No—it's…_she stopped herself, confused and pained all over again by the rush of longing that passed through her, and realized that the emotion was Inuyasha's partially…she found a different train of thought and sent it at him, pinning her frustration and bitterness on the silent exchange so he would understand…or so she _hoped._

_It's you, Inuyasha. I'm not trying to run away, it's you! You push me away! What do I have to stay for?_

She felt the hands on her shoulder squeeze sharply and then withdraw. The hanyou was utterly silent—even his mind was as still as the glassy, reflective surface of a lake on a calm day. And then, as if a dam had burst somewhere inside him, she felt Inuyasha's frustration, longing, and his _fear._ A fear for her, a fear of losing her, whether it was to battle, old age, or disease, he didn't care what cause—only that she would be lost to him forever, and he refused to face that certainty…

And she was pushing it on him.

Kagome swallowed hard, started to speak aloud, to call his name, but Inuyasha cut her short with a tiny indrawn hiss of air.

_Feh! Do you think I care? I don't. You want to leave? Then fucking leave!_

She felt his emotions, cold as stone, fall between them, obscuring the link, and heard the hanyou move away from her, swiftly crossing the camp to jump back into his tree. He didn't stay there long. As silently as he could, though Kagome still inherently knew he moved, the hanyou crept through the branches until he was quite a long distance away, in a place where Kagome wasn't visible to him.

The hours passed Kagome by, leaving her sleepless. She didn't know whether Inuyasha slept, his mind was cold to her. He was trying it seemed, to once again cut off their link, to destroy it.

When the sun finally started to rise, cresting over the horizon, peeking in at Kagome's misery through the slant of the trees, she could stand it no more. Rising into the chilly early summer air, she settled Shippo on her sleeping bag before quietly slipping out of the camp. The tears came the moment she knew she was out of sight, hidden by the shadows of the trees and shrubs she pressed herself through. As she'd expected, Inuyasha didn't follow her. He was angry, upset, and hurt enough by her that he needed to stew away, preferably with distance between them. She might've tried to patch things between them, but not before she'd had a good sob. Heaven knew she needed it.

The narrow animal trail she followed wound aimlessly at first, though Kagome hardly cared where it lead her, as long as she was far enough away from camp to avoid waking the others. Low hanging tree branches snagged at her, like a grabby child's fingers. The underbrush slashed at her legs, all of it seemed thorny, all of it felt like nettles picking at her skin, playing games with her nerves. Her body itched, as if parasites lived just underneath her flesh, ready to hatch out, spring free and be born. The forest was dark, dank, and unfriendly.

Kagome headed for the light, which was blurred in her teary vision.

She broke through and gasped at the brightness of the early morning sunrise. Holding a hand up to hide her eyes from the blaze, she stumbled forward. Collapsing beside an old stone wall, half-demolished, no higher than her thigh, Kagome let the sobs come, the grief she'd struggled to withhold. _Gramps. Souta. All my friends. Hojo. Buyo. And…Mom._ She choked, gagging on her own tears. The sound of her own agony in her ears was like hearing a stranger. The foreignness of it made her shudder with her cries all over again.

_Mama…I'll never see you again, will I? Whether I die here naturally, or I disappear into time—I'll never see you again, and you'll never know what happened to me, will you? I've broken your heart, haven't I? Mom, I never meant to, I never wanted anything like this…_

For a time, as they'd searched for Saishi, hoping for a way to fix the well to send her home, Kagome had dared hope; she'd dared to send her fear and her grief away in the interest of bettering the present time. But now those wounds were resurfacing, and they were cruel and unforgiving. There was no way she could deny them without also acknowledging that she was lying to herself.

She was stuck 500 years in the past with a half-demon that loved her, but desperately didn't want to. He refused to her when she needed him most.

Dimly she imagined the hanyou hearing her thoughts, imagined the ache that would spring up inside his heart, one she knew was similar to her own feelings. Then she could almost _see_ him dashing through the thick tree branches, leaping for all he was worth, looking for her. He'd be at the clearing's edge, watching as she sobbed, as she mourned the loss not just of her family, but of her _world. _And then he would understand that she couldn't live without him, it would hit him like a sledgehammer. Inuyasha would take her in his arms, and then they'd never be apart again, they would love one another until their time on earth was ended, no matter when it was. Whether it came soon or in a hundred years…

There was a rustle behind her, and Kagome's head snapped up. Breathing hard, raggedly from her wild tears and sobbing, she turned, glancing behind her. Could it be Inuyasha? She searched the link but found it still dead and cold. Doubt filled her, flaring briefly, and finally consuming her whole as she caught sight of the sparrow, skittering away from the trees.

Burying her face in her hands, Kagome dissolved, letting her grief and pain spill out of her in the form of her wet, cold salty tears.

A rock slipped free from the fence, then another, both trickled down to the ground, bumping against Kagome as they came to a stop. She hardly noticed them in her grief. A third stone fell, tumbling loudly from its perch, until one small section of the fence was a little ruin. This clattering noise finally drew Kagome's attention.

Looking up, squinting through both her tired, teary, and burning eyes as well as the sharp, piercing sunlight, Kagome stared at the wall, confusedly. And then something rose out of the rubble, long and sinuous, grayish-brown with a pattern of diamonds on its scaly hide. Red eyes, with slitted, vertical pupils of obsidian, glimmered at her, a black tongue flicked out once before its mouth opened wide in a sickening, triumphant snarl of a smile.

Kagome's breath stopped in her throat, grief was chased abruptly away by terror. _It was a demon!_

"You've got Sssssshardssss." The snake demon's teeth glinted in the bright, warm summer sunrise. "Give them to me and I will ssssspare you." His tongue flicked out at her, almost teasingly with each word with an S-sound in it.

Looking into his beady, ugly eyes, Kagome didn't fancy that he was a good liar, or that he was big on mercy. One hand flew to her throat where the Shards, coalesced into a good three-fourths of the entire Sacred Jewel, were hiding. Her palm closed tightly over it.

"The answer is no." she hated her voice for wavering slightly, "What are you waiting for? Kill me, why don't you if you want the Shards!" inwardly she nudged her link with Inuyasha, shouting at him to stop sulking. _Why didn't I think to bring my arrows! When did I stop trying to be safe!_

She thought that the snake demon would indulge her further, buying her time, if she tried to challenge it, tried to make it speak to defend its honor or strength, she'd seen Inuyasha work that strategy many, many times. But apparently the snake demon didn't care too much about her opinion of him. Without warning he sprung forward, hissing loudly.

Kagome screamed once and leapt backward, trying to escape the shots of venom the snake shot at her. Two of his teeth were elongated and curved wickedly: the fangs. They seemed to move as if they possessed a will of their own, darting out in turn to jet a stream of noxious yellow venom at her. With no small amount of horror, Kagome noted that the demon's poison melted the rocks like acid. Whimpering, she rolled and darted, trying to run back toward the forest…faintly she heard herself screaming Inuyasha's name over and over again, and felt him gingerly investigating the link between them. If she could hold out just a little longer…

There was a hissing sound, louder and harsher than most of the others, and suddenly Kagome fell, sprawled wildly. Her palms scraped over the rocky soil and dirt, her cheek slammed into the ground. She tasted blood.

And then there was pain. Pain tore up her left leg, like a flash of fire on her skin. Bile rose in her throat, she choked on her own blood and the dirt around her. Her leg pulsed in time with her heartbeat; each contraction was a new song, a new lesson in agony.

She heard herself scream but didn't know what she said. The world spun wildly, sickeningly, and the morning light, so mockingly cheerful and bright, began to fade away. She felt her lungs constrict, and heard, dimly, the sounds she made as she gasped for breath. Despairing as the pain continued unabated, she let her eyes flutter closed, let her limbs sag limply.

The snake demon hissed somewhere above her. She sensed his body moving over the soil, slithering over it. She heard the tiny pebbles shifting beneath him as he passed inches from her face. Hot tears pressed against her lids, but the world still seemed to dip and spin and fade steadily away.

"The Sssssshardsssss girl…" the snake demanded, and though Kagome wanted to spit in his face, she found that she hardly had energy to even consider it, let alone actually struggle with him. "Thatssss right, girl. Sssssleep."

She drifted into the encroaching darkness, lost in a sea of pain.

* * *

Inuyasha snapped wide awake, Kagome's screams echoing within his mind. He asked no questions, and didn't doubt. When it came to danger, Inuyasha was a creature of action, not deliberation or caution. He probed his connection with her as he leapt from the tree he'd taken as his own, and ran toward the camp, expecting to find trouble. Trees whipped by him, ferns and underbrush tried to snag him, tried to slow him. Inuyasha tore them apart rather than hesitate in the least. 

_Kagome isn't at camp._ The knowledge stopped him dead for a moment, chest heaving, ears swiveling. The light peeking through the forest's canopy was deceptively peaceful and warm, but beyond it there was a small, timid breeze. It was on that breeze that something caught his attention, and froze him down to his bones. _The stink of venom…_an icy, pitiless grip closed over his heart, the first tremor of anticipatory dread.

Baring his teeth viciously, Inuyasha followed that breeze, his clawed hands already clutching at Tetsusaiga's hilt.

The forest died away abruptly, depositing the rushing hanyou into the meadow where the small ruined wall crossed, and the stagnant stench of salt and misery from Kagome's grief mingled with the bitter twang of poison. Inuyasha's stomach clenched up, he nearly heaved at the sickening mixture—and then a second time when he spotted the long, gray-brown body of the snake demon draped around Kagome's fallen body. On her left leg there were two puncture holes, side by side, both oozing blood. The skin around the small wounds was blue-black, as if she'd been beaten.

Rage and terror erupted inside him at once, rushing out of a reservoir that he'd never fully comprehended until that moment. He felt the surge of heat in his veins, youkai blood trying to spurt into life, to flare up in Kagome's defense, despite the fact that he clutched Tetsusaiga tightly with both palms.

The snake demon hissed, jerking its large triangular head back, glaring with its beady eyes at the hanyou. It grinned, its disgusting jaw revealing the two fangs, filled to the brink with venom. Yellowish gobs of it foamed out, a clear warning…and an indication of intense fear.

Inuyasha's ears fell backward as he made his decision. Screaming, he ran at the demon, ripping Tetsusaiga from its sheath as he went. The snake hissed, spitting venom, but Inuyasha ignored it, quickly closing the distance between himself and the monster. It panicked, as Inuyasha had expected it would, and it left Kagome as fast as possible. Seconds later Inuyasha had slashed the reptilian demon into tiny bits and rushed back to Kagome, hardly breaking so much as a sweat.

"Kagome!" sheathing Tetsusaiga smoothly, he scooped the young woman up into his arms, grimacing at her scent, rank with venom and pain. "_Kagome!"_ he shook her, gently at first, and then with more force. Neither motion drew something from the girl. Her chest rose jerkily, as if she were laughing in her sleep. Scowling at such a sick mockery, Inuyasha drew long, careful breaths, struggling to keep himself calm. His heart picked up speed, his hands felt sticky with perspiration as he dug about her neck, searching for a pulse. It was there, and seemingly steady, but her color was terrible…

An endless stream of curses ran through his head. He recalled, faintly, that Kagome kept some sort of anti-venom for bug bites and stings. She'd had to use it on Miroku for many long years because the monk had a tendency to absorb the venom that Naraku's insects poisoned him with when they were sucked into his wind tunnel. Faint hope powered Inuyasha, made him curl Kagome's small, fragile body close to his chest and run, leaping up into the trees, towards camp.

He sensed that the others were beginning to stir, blithely unaware of the trouble that had happened as they slept, but not for much longer. Wasting no time, Inuyasha half-kicked, half-nudged Miroku until he was awake, wincing at the sudden infusion of light onto retinas that were accustomed to darkness the last few hours. He blinked dazedly up at Inuyasha and opened his mouth to speak, but the hanyou beat him to it.

"Where the hell is that anti-venom that Kagome carries with her?" he shouted, his face a scowling mask of desperation and impatience.

"It's…" Miroku tried to make sense of what was happening, but his mind was fuzzy, slow. _Inuyasha holding Kagome…is she awake?_ A slow drain of the colors in his face was the only sign Miroku's anxiety revealed as it spread through him like a disease. "I'll get it." He paused only long enough to take hold of his staff before he was kneeling beside Kagome's sleeping bag, digging inside her big, bulbous yellow pack.

"Hurry it the hell up!" Inuyasha snapped, moving anxiously up behind the monk, adding the pressure of his looming presence to Miroku's urgency.

"Inuyasha?" Shippo stirred on the sleeping bag where Kagome had left him earlier, rubbing his green eyes against the light. "It's still early to…" he stopped, nose twitching as the fact that Kagome was absent from his side registered, and slowly the scent of venom, of pain and misery, reached his young, innocent nose. When he blinked again and saw Inuyasha's tense, bristling form holding Kagome's limp one, he froze, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Kagome!" he leapt toward the hanyou, but Inuyasha booted him away with one foot.

"Not now Shippo…" he swallowed hard, trying to ignore the kit's frantic scrabbling, his tiny, mewled cries of distress. The kit could smell the venom too, the poison inside Kagome's body, and he knew that things were far from looking good.

Miroku was shaking his head; his hands were full of useless things: flowery shampoos, soaps that smelled of berries, towels, a spare pair of panties, unidentified plastic items, hairbrushes and combs, a water bottle, books… "I can't find…"

"Fuck." Inuyasha cursed, loudly, whirling back to face the forest, still clutching the schoolgirl tightly in his arms. The golden eyes seemed to darken by several shades.

Sango was on her feet then, her brown eyes wide with the confusion and fear that was beginning to spark in the air. "What's going on? Inuyasha? What happened…!" when her eyes drifted over Kagome's limp form they stumbled onto the red of blood from the bite marks and the blue-black of venom-damaged skin. She gasped, covering her lips with one hand. "She was bitten by—"

"A snake demon." Inuyasha hissed, pushing past her, his back stiff.

"How did—"

"Inuyasha! How could you let this happen to Kagome! How _could_ you! Inuyasha I hate you! You let Kagome get bitten and now—" Shippo's loud, wailing cries made the others wince, struggling to hold their composure. "—what if Kagome dies! I'll never forgive you Inuyasha, _never!"_

"The last village had a healer…" Sango began, her voice dark, faint.

"Hurry, Inuyasha, we'll catch up." Miroku gestured with his staff, the set of his jaw grim. "Take Kagome back to the village we stayed in yesterday night. It might not be too late for them to…" his words tapered off and died and Inuyasha nodded once gruffly and bounded off, his precious cargo tightly clasped in his arms.

Shippo tried to chase the hanyou, shouting out angrily in curses of grief that sounded a little too much like Inuyasha. Sango and Kilala intervened, stopping the kit by scooping him up and comforting him as he fell into the terrible, wracking sobs of grief. Over the top of Shippo's scruffy red hair, Sango glazed worriedly at Miroku. The monk avoided her stare, pursing his lips and looking instead to the sunrise as Shippo's shouting reached its peak, destined to forever haunt the slayer and the monk to the end of their days.

"It's too late! _Too late! _I smelled the poison! Kagome's gone! Gome's gone! She's gone…Mama's gone away and the monster _wore_ Daddy's skin! He killed them! Killed Mama…'Gome's gone, he _killed_ her."

* * *

Endnote: Yeah, shameless self-promoting. I need a name for my novel that I finished last month...so I'm shamelessly advertising it to you guys and asking for help. The shortest summary I could pretty much come up with is that it's about "Unlikely Allies." This update I'll feed you all some of my first chapter, you can get the mentality of the "Witches" (also known as the Sisterhood)a group of man-hating women who destroy men (usually powerful men) using the art of seduction. After he's out cold the Witch takes his money, his secrets, or she'll just kill him. Anyay, this is it:

_"Men are monsters, little Zaishe. They look at us; look at women and little girls, the way you look at a good piece of poumpa fruit. They look with hunger. They refuse to look on us as their equals. They want sons and curse their daughters; they want something beautiful even if she's cruel and harsh in every other way. But you must always remember that though this is the way they rule the galaxy, it is also their greatest weakness…"_

There you are...until next time...I had a fabulous suggestion by fanfiction1 I think so brief shoutout there (WOOOHOO!)


	19. Hold On

**Disclaimer:** Nope don't own them. Though Isha and Maribi are sorta mine from this chapter.

**A/N:** Yes, you will HATE me by the end of this chapter. Don't skip Mrs. H's part anyone, it should intrigue you. She gets to meet the woman she talked to last chapter, the woman whose name was Kagome Keshikaran. MmmmHmmm...yeah. (grins) But I gotta get going here cuz I need to sleep. Busy busy busy weeks...(screams) My novel is selling well among my little sister's best friends. They heards about it from her and my other sister and now they're all reading it in its raw, unedited (aka un FIXED) version and loving it. (blinks and blushes in her embarrassed attempt athumbleness) I still feel like it has a long way to go before it's fit to be seen by someone in the publishing world but so far both my sisters have read it ferverishly, as have several other girls (names: Megan, Devin, and now Lydia and after that probably Brenna) either they're all just tryin to suck up to me (shrugs)which would be weird b/c they don't know me, but could also be me thinking wishfully, or ...maybe it really is good and deserving of an audience...LOL...and I haven't even edited the stupid thing yet, or given it a proper name...

Anyway, write in tell me what you think of this chapter. You'll hate me so much that you'll write in to scream at me about the ending anyway...hehe...I love it when you guys scream at me ;-) Later until next time!

**

* * *

Hold On**

The next day dawned cloudy and stormy. I watched Souta head out for the day, exploring the Shrine the way Gramps used to. I felt the bittersweet longing stir inside me at the sight, and I had to fight my tears, swallowing them back down into my throat. The last thing I wanted was for Souta to see me crying—especially when there was something so massive looming on the horizon.

I knew that somewhere inside Souta had to be nervous about his date with Kari Keshikaran, but he never showed it. To anyone else it would've appeared that we were beginning a very normal day on the Higurashi Shrine. But Souta and I both knew it was going to be extraordinary. We could feel it in our bones. Despite the bleakness of the day—I always imagined that the biggest things happen on days when the sun is shining, the clouds are breezing through the sky, and the flowers are blooming happily, never thinking once about the inevitable coming of the snow—we knew that discovery was hanging in the air…

It was noon when I spotted an unusual visitor to our shrine. over the long years I've seen many regulars come and go, and like everyone else, I came to recognize them and even make good friends with a few. Since Gramps died I hadn't bothered with the Shrine's activities as much. I'm not full of his fancy, long winded tales of myth and legend, heroes, demons, and evil doers. I can't draw the same sort of crowd as a tour guide that Gramps could. I had no illusions about that—but I _had_ maintained a few relation ships with the regulars. I knew them on sight, and this woman was different from all of them…and it was clear to me she was visiting on her lunch break.

She was wearing the white khaki pants and blue shirt of a Burger King employee.

I watched her for a while, hesitant to approach her. Could she be the woman I'd called yesterday? Could she be Kagome Keshikaran? Or had I hallucinated the entire event? I couldn't say. Anything seemed as if it could be made up in my muddled head.

The young woman stopped before the God tree and clapped her hands three times before bowing her head for a long, long time. The tree is sacred, it's true, but most of the idle passersby don't stay so long at the tree. Finally I summoned up my courage—and one particular story I knew _very_ well in relation to that tree—and I walked over to speak with her.

"It's a shame the weather isn't better today, no?" I asked, coming to stand beside her. It was hard to rein in my curiosity. Part of me just wanted to wrap my arms around her and demand that she tell me everything she knew about my daughter. The rest of me was afraid that it was all some cruel, sick delusion or prank on my sanity. Between the two conflicting sides of my mind I could only observe the woman I suspected was named Kagome Keshikaran.

"Yes, it's a bit chilly out here, isn't it?" she answered, rubbing her arms up and down idly. She didn't look at me.

In the moment of silence between us, I couldn't make myself look away from her. I couldn't make myself pretend to stare at the God tree with simple reverence the way this girl dressed in her Burger King uniform did so easily. _Was_ she Kagome Keshikaran? _Was_ she the woman that'd promised to meet me with whatever secrets the Tetsusaiga family was hiding within their family legend?

I tried to hide the fact that I was watching her, but I know she knew it. That she didn't look back seemed to confirm my suspicions. She wasn't particularly tall, but she was very lean, though her shoulders appeared powerful, as if she made a habit of visiting a gym on the weekends. Her uniform and shoes were neat and clean. Her hair was a brownish-black, perhaps even with a few red highlights buried within it—probably dyed, I imagined. My Kagome had never dyed her hair…she'd been so busy she didn't even keep it trimmed!

I was so caught up studying her that I almost missed her words when she spoke. "Do I look like her?"

"What?" I stammered. My stomach seemed to plummet straight to the bowels of the earth. I thought I'd vomit. "Like…who?"

She turned, moving only her shoulders and face, not her feet to look at me, and I saw for the first time that her eyes were a lovely shade of earthy brown—but flecked with bright bits of green near the pupils. Her eyes…they stole my breath away, but only for a moment. _Colored_ _contacts…_

"Like your daughter, Mrs. Higurashi." She ducked her head slightly, lowering her eyes, "I was named after her."

My mouth fell open, like a fish out of water. Words abandoned me, as did coherent thought. Fortunately the young woman must've anticipated that result, because she was ready a moment later with a question of her own. "What happened to your daughter, Mrs. Higurashi?"

"She—" I stopped myself, knowing full well how ridiculous the story sounds when it's told. For a moment I stared at my feet, pressing my lips together tightly. "I thought you already knew that, Miss Keshikaran."

"Yes, but I don't know the specifics, and I don't really know how much _you_ know."

"What I know would make most people think I'm crazy." I found myself staring up at the notch in the sacred tree's bark, the place where, as Gramp's story goes, the half dog demon Inuyasha was pinned by a priestess's arrow to the tree, pinned for his crimes against humanity. In the tale he is a wicked creature, out of control, and the priestess that puts her arrow through him is a hero. And the tale is simple, one of good against evil, with good pulling through triumphantly. But the story that my Kagome told is far, far more complicated.

The young woman at my side—only a few years older than what my Kagome would've been if she were still with Souta and I—sighed once, heavily. Then she spoke, her voice quiet and tired. "The things I know would also make most people think I'm crazy. A few of them are even family and they still think I'm nuts."

"Why?" I asked her, but I hardly noticed the word leaving my lips. The notch in the sacred tree had captured my attention completely by then. I hardly felt myself breathing through all the memories I could still feel the tree exuding. Was I feeling Kagome's miko sense within me? I knew my daughter had to have inherited the ability somewhere, from someone…or perhaps I was still imagining things? Perhaps Kagome Keshikaran was an invention of my own deluded mind and I was standing alone at the God tree, remembering things long since lost and gone.

"Because," she scuffed once at the dirt with her clean white shoes, a little brown dust dirtied her white khakis and she scowled down at it. "My immediate family isn't like the rest of the Keshikarans. My mother is…" suddenly I felt her gaze on me, willing me to look up and _see_ her.

I did as I was silently compelled to, and I gasped, stumbling backwards, choking on nothing but the air.

Her face twisted with irritation for a moment and then tightened with something that might have been nervousness or excitement. In my shock I never really knew or cared which it was. "Take that look off your face, I know you've seen this sort of thing before."

"You…you're…" when I made a motion to point or reach for her face, the young Keshikaran woman slapped my hands away in irritation.

"Yes," she snapped, "I'm a half-demon." The red ears atop her head, invisible to me until she'd allowed me to see them moments ago, waggled almost mischievously. Her eyes, where the flecks of green showed through the deep, rich brown around the pupils, glowed intensely, like neon lights advertising her bizarre heritage.

"Half-demon…" I repeated the words stupidly like a parrot.

Kagome Keshikaran nodded and suddenly broke out into a wide, mischievous grin. "I'm half fox demon. I'm a kitsune."

* * *

She was shivering and feverish in his arms. Her hands clamped down on the folds of his haori as he leapt, plowing through the brush, his face set in a grim scowl. He could smell the sweat oozing out of her in buckets, soaking into his clothes, and all of it reeking of her pain, her stress and her misery. The venom from the snake demon was a fast, vicious poison, damaging tissue and breaking blood vessels, turning Kagome's left legs into a swollen lump of black-blue colored flesh. It was one giant bruise. And the longer she clung to him, without the assistance of _some_ type of healer, the greater and greater chance that she would never recover.

And Inuyasha _knew_ it was his fault. He brushed over his link with her, feeling tiny echoes of her pain and suffering, her agony. She was lost in a world of delirium that he couldn't break through and couldn't comfort of apologize.

She'd left camp to escape _him._

And he'd as good as _asked_ her to do it: _Do you think I care? I don't. You want to leave? Then fucking leave!_

And now she was suffering, she was dying.

He felt her body tense against his chest, heard her tiny whimpered sounds of pain and distress. She shuddered against him, buried her face in his chest, and to Inuyasha it was a bitter reminder of the things that he'd never given her. Unknowing as it was, he'd forged a link with her, like a silent proposal of marriage, a declaration of love eternal—and then he'd failed to come through for her when she'd accepted it. He'd done everything wrong out of pride, stubbornness, or fear. He pushed Kagome away for fear of one day losing her, and he was too proud to admit that it pained him when she worried about vanishing or dying, or simply felt she didn't _belong_…

Trouble was, he _knew_ she belonged, from the moment she'd stumbled into his pinned form on the God tree and woken him with her voice, he'd known. He hadn't had a doubt because of her soul: it was almost identical to Kikyo's. She was a second chance, a gift handed to him to correct Naraku's wrongs, to set things right—and he'd never honored her the way she deserved.

_I'm sorry._ He whispered the message through the tremulous connection they shared, the quaking link that had sprung up between them, despite his foolishness. _I'm so sorry; I should've listened to you. I should've stayed with you. I didn't want to become so attached to you and then outlive you if we were mates…but now you're dying anyway and it's all my fault._ _Please, just hold on Kagome. Hold on…_

The trees flew by him, their leaves brushing his shoulders, whipping his legs. They lashed the first few, angry tears that slipped down his cheeks. He couldn't even begin to imagine life without her, but his heart could feel it already, an icy touch on his soul. A pain far worse than any physical one began to burn through him, down to his core. It was akin to the suffering he'd worked so hard to bury when Kikyo's arrow had pinned him to the tree, but worse still. He refused to consider her dying as an option, but the shuddering, suffering girl in his arms couldn't be denied.

He found the tears coming, despite his efforts to fight them. They flowed where no one could see them except the silent trees.

* * *

The first villager looked up through the early morning sunshine, squinting, when the hanyou broke through the thick foliage of the forest and stood still, golden eyes blazing. The villager's mouth fell open, confusedly, for a moment, and then the first tremor of fear tweaked over his face as he caught sight of Inuyasha's fair hair and the white ears flicking atop his head. It was a reaction that Inuyasha had seen _far_ too many times in his life.

"Demon!" he shouted, quickly picking up the hoe he'd been using and holding it defensively, as if he expected Inuyasha to pounce on him hungrily. "A demon!"

Inuyasha's ears fell backward, his eyes narrowed. "Where's this village's healer?" he snapped, holding Kagome's limp, shivering form unconsciously closer to him.

The villager appeared perplexed; apparently he hadn't expected Inuyasha to be able to speak human language. His mouth hung open like a suffocating fish. Inuyasha growled impatiently and stalked forward. Immediately the man raised his hoe again and shouted, "Demon! Stay back!"

Other field workers had looked up by now, men and women, young and old. They shifted large round sunhats, squinting as they tried to see what was happening. A few of them bristled, their postures becoming alert and alarmed. Their hands gripped the farming tools, clearly thinking of using them in ways that were harmful to more than just weeds.

Taking stock of their hostility, Inuyasha scowled. Would they try to harm him even though they could see Kagome suffering fitfully in his arms? Another, darker thought emerged fast on the heels of the first: what if they thought _he'd_ hurt or poisoned her? What if they tried to take Kagome from him…?

Desperate, Inuyasha held Kagome closer and rushed forward, pushing past the first gawking villager and through the fields. The men and women gaped, ducking and shouting as he leapt over them with hardly any effort at all. They didn't pursue him, which was one small miracle. Dimly, Inuyasha prayed that the field workers were only a fluke: hopefully the other villagers would remember him as benign and take pity on Kagome.

When the huts and larger buildings of the village started to come within sight as Inuyasha crested the hill, still running and leaping to cover ground steadily, he tried touching his link with the unconscious schoolgirl: _Hold on just a little longer Kagome—please—I promise if you do I'll…I'd do anything, anything for you._

From her there came nothing but pain and delirium, half-thoughts and memories that made no sense. He saw himself, a flash of silver and red robes, he saw Miroku and Sango together, pink and green with purple. Shippo's green eyes were powerful in her memories. He could hear her mother's voice in those memories, years and years worth of it. Souta was there too, following her grandfather about the Higurashi Shrine, learning its ways and hearing the bizarre tales he had to offer. Things she'd never thought much of until the well had called her down into its depths…

_Hold on Kagome, just hold on._

The villagers, wandering in their marketplace, haggling prices and whispering rumors amidst themselves, were silenced abruptly when Inuyasha reached them. They gawked at him, but most didn't immediately tense with hostility. The hanyou hardly spent more than a second taking them in before he shouted: "Where the hell is your healer!"

A little boy standing beside his mother broke away from her, pointing. "That way." his eyes were big and dark brown when he looked at the hanyou.

Inuyasha nodded his head once, "Thanks kid." Tightening his grip on his precious cargo again, he hurried forward through the crowd, ignoring the silence of the place, the odd looks of fear, irritation, confusion and disgust.

The people let him pass unmolested toward the center of their village, a two-story structure that he remembered from the night he and the others had stayed at the inn and bathed. Kagome had gotten herself lost in the short time they spent there, unable to find their room, and he'd been very pleased to use the link they shared to track her down and save her from certain abduction. Trouble accompanied Kagome like Rin and Jaken followed Sesshomaru's fluffy. Inuyasha had saved her then, but now, with the snake demon's venom…

Ripping the door to the place open, after leaping the good-sized front gates, Inuyasha growled at the first person he saw come running. It was a maid, a small, timid mousy woman. "Is this the healer's place?"

"Dear God," the woman puffed, covering her lips with one hand as she took in the door that Inuyasha had, quite literally, torn apart, "Whoever you are, you can't just…" her voice trailed away as she took in both the pallid, sweating form that the hanyou held in his arms, and the dog ears atop his head.

Her eyes widened, and Inuyasha felt his urge to push past her diminish when he saw recognition burn in her eyes. "Yes, the healer is here. I'll go get him—follow me and I'll show you where to put the girl."

She led him through a narrow hallway, stopping several times to slide open another screened door. Finally, after a flight of stairs, she directed him to one small room that was furnished with a futon, blankets and a feather pillow. Her face was tight and drawn as she gestured for Inuyasha to hand over the sick schoolgirl. One glare from Inuyasha told her that he wasn't about to let her have her way. Swallowing nervously, she bowed once at the door and left to fetch the healer.

Alone, Inuyasha set Kagome carefully onto the futon and fussed over the covers, knowing that although she was shivering, her body was actually feverish. Her suffering seemed almost surreal, and the hanyou found himself treating it as if she were only sick with a cold, as if at any moment she might wake up and demand why he was putting her into bed and why she wasn't in her sleeping bag anymore…and then she'd sit him for sure. He'd yell and shout and curse her and maybe find himself kissing dirt a second time.

He smiled, remembering some of their first experiences together, the first, early arguments. Without her, who would he worry about endlessly? Who would fight with him, challenge him into coherent thought? Who would keep him acting properly? Who would accuse him of having a good heart so that he could vehemently deny it, and whine about having to stop and help others? Who would he watch over, while he struggled to fall asleep? Who would haunt his dreams with her smiles, her laughter, her tears…?

She moaned and whimpered through a hazy world of painful nightmares, he could feel them spinning like spider webs inside her mind. Something ominous and dark tightened in his chest. He couldn't face the swelling, blue-black lump that had once been her leg, and gingerly tried to cover the wound, wishing with fervor that he could've taken the bite for her somehow. _Hold on Kagome…_

The door opened again, and this time when Inuyasha turned he felt relief swamp him as a small, beady-eyed man stepped into the room and bowed. Behind him, the small, mousy woman clamored, her head bowed. The healer knelt beside Kagome's futon, quietly, and muttered, "Forgive me," before reaching toward the girl's covers.

Inuyasha stifled the growl rising in his throat and forced himself to back away from the healer slightly. When the man uncovered Kagome's legs ad made a small noise that the hanyou couldn't identify, he swallowed hard and focused his attention on the girl's tight, pale, sweat-covered face. "She was bitten by a snake demon." He muttered, his fists, hidden beyond the red folds of his sleeves, curled up tightly.

"Snake demon," the healer nodded, solemnly, his attention was completely on the wound, not on Inuyasha at all. "How long ago?"

"Maybe an hour." The hanyou's ears folded backwards, he averted his face from the whole scene, struggling to withhold emotion. The shame and guilt flooded him, returning again. _Do you think I care? I don't. You want to leave? Then fucking leave! _He cursed himself silently, praying that the healer would be able to save her.

"Hmn." The healer hummed under his breath and turned slightly to the mousy woman who still lingered at threshold to the room. "Maribi, fetch some pillows, we need to prop her up."

The woman bowed, "Yes, Isha." She and her footsteps disappeared down the hallway together.

Slowly the healer began to pull several long cords of fabric out of his robes and finger them carefully. Inuyasha watched him like a cat from a short distance away, making no attempt to hide his suspicion. When the man finally reached for Kagome's leg, swollen and discolored around the place where the monster snake had bitten her, Inuyasha growled.

"What the hell are you doing and why?"

"This is to slow the spread of the poison." Isha answered blandly, not stopping his hands as he spoke. Each time that the man's hands grazed Kagome's wound, or moved her leg a bit, the girl half-cried out with pain and Inuyasha tensed. His fingers alternately gripped Tetsusaiga and then relaxed again. It was a long moment before the cords were tied at the top and bottom of the swollen, discolored area of Kagome's wound.

Maribi returned then, her arms loaded with white pillows. Isha nodded at her thankfully and took the pillows from her, hardly giving her a second glance throughout. Indeed, the man hardly looked at anything but his hands the entire time. Inuyasha began to bristle, irritated with the slowness of the procedure. The healer moved to where Kagome's head still rested, caught frozen in a frown of pain, and began sliding pillows underneath her. The slowness of his movements, and the sudden increase of pained whimpering that the activity drew from Kagome, made Inuyasha finally snap.

"Dammit—get away from her, I'll do it!" he pushed Isha away, snatching the pillows as he went. In seconds he had Kagome half way up in a sitting position, only half supported by the pillows. He let her use his shoulder and chest as a headrest while the pillows supported her back. Grumbling under his breath, he took his new position at the head of her bed, scowling at the healer and Maribi from there.

"A bamboo straw, Maribi." Isha ordered, quietly, though not quiet enough for Inuyasha to miss the command.

"A straw?" he repeated, incredulously. Kagome drank out of her strange pla-stick bottles that she'd brought from the future using things she called "straws."

"Yes. I might be able to suck out a little of the venom."

"It's _demon _venom." Inuyasha snarled, "It'll kill you." His tone fairly shouted: _I can't believe how stupid you are!_

The healer paused a moment, looking carefully over the protective, cranky hanyou. "I will not ingest the venom." He bowed his head a little, deferring to Inuyasha as the sounds of Maribi's footsteps returned over the floorboards outside the room. "It might be enough to save your mate."

Inuyasha tensed, "She's not my…" his ears fell backward and his voice faltered. The instinctual denial sputtered and died like a single candle wick in the midst of a hurricane. Instead he found his thoughts spinning at the healer's words. _It might be enough to save your mate._ To save Kagome? His sanity shied away from the thought that Kagome might not recover completely, that she might be left sickened and weakened for life by the venom poisoning her body, eating away at her flesh—but the healer's words were a small slap of reality.

Kagome's words floated back to him: _It's you, Inuyasha. I'm not trying to run away, it's you! You push me away! What do I have to stay for?_

He could feel the bleakness in her soul when he touched the link they shared; he could feel her misery and her pain swirling about inside her head. She'd always believed that somewhere, along the way, she was destined to die horribly or fade away because she was trapped in a time that was not her own. She suffered in her poison-induced delirium believing that she was _meant_ to die. Her body toiled away painfully, while her will to live, the soul that powered the body underneath, slowly withdrew.

_What do I have to stay for?_ Her words repeated inside his skull and something heavy started to coalesce inside his chest, tearing at his heart. What did she have to stay for? He knew the answer as he stared down at her pale, sweat-drenched face.

Tenderly, he reached out and touched her cheek first, then let his hand drop to her neck, feeling the rapid pulse there. She made tiny whimpering sounds that only Inuyasha's powerful white dog ears could pick up. He sent his mind to gently touch hers. _Stay for me, Kagome. Stay for me. Please. I…I love you—_

Kagome's eyes fluttered faintly and she moaned, trying to move or struggle against the pain. Surprise made Inuyasha cut off his thoughts to her as he realized that the healer, Isha, had already started trying to extract some of the venom from Kagome's leg using his bamboo straw. This meant that he was probing the wound with the straw, making Kagome writhe in new, fresh pain.

Growling, Inuyasha half lunged for the healer and his straw, but seemed to catch himself partway. Instead he moved closer to Kagome, holding her shoulders with his claws and supporting her head on his lap. "You be careful, old man." He warned, a promise of murder lurking in his golden eyes when he glowered at the healer. "I'll kill you if you hurt her…"

The healer pulled away from Kagome's wound, his face pinched tightly with concentration. Maribi, acting as a nurse at his side, extended a small ugly pot. Isha let the straw empty out its contents without looking at anything but his own fingers. He ignored Inuyasha's hiss as the bitter, abrasive stink of the venom enveloped the room.

Only when Maribi had pulled back the sloshing pot did Isha finally answer Inuyasha's challenge. "Some pain is necessary for healing, demon."

Inuyasha didn't answer him as Isha leaned forward again, the bamboo straw to his lips. On the futon Kagome groaned and moved her hands out, searching for him. The feverish girl grabbed hold of his arms and his clothing, tugging hard on it and calling out to something within him in a guttural language that Inuyasha hadn't known either of them understood. For a moment he battled the fierce, but useless instinct to push Isha away from Kagome and cradle her thin, fragile body against him, as if merely willing her pain and suffering to vanish could make it so.

Each time Isha drew away a little more poison, Kagome writhed and whimpered in pain, and each time Inuyasha came closer and closer to simply throttling the healer. Luckily Isha sighed and sent Maribi away with the bamboo straw and the pot full of the foul-smelling, slimy venom he'd extracted before Inuyasha lost control. Once Maribi was gone, the healer turned slowly to partly face the hanyou, his face was still pinched and held tightly.

"I have soothing balms and some herbs that may help her combat the poison," he murmured, "But her survival will be…difficult…"

Inuyasha stared the small man down unflinchingly, though inwardly he was screaming. When he spoke his voice was deep with warning. "What are you saying?"

"She may not live—and if she does she will likely never be as she was again. She will be weak and subject to illness, I fear." Apparently seeing the anger and beginnings of despair bloom in the hanyou's eyes, the healer bowed quickly, touching his forehead to the floorboards. "Forgive me. I wish I could promise you more. Demon venom such as this…"

"Shut up." Inuyasha growled, not even looking at the healer. His clawed hands on Kagome's shoulders tightened their protective grip. "You're wrong. She'll pull through." He caught the healer's quiet but curious stare on him a second later and shouted, "Stop lookin' at me and do your job, dammit!"

"Yes, demon."

As if on cue Maribi returned, she carried a bundle of herbs carefully in her arms and shoved it quickly toward Isha after bowing briefly at the doorway. Isha focused his attention on her delicate, important cargo, eyeing the herbs with his fingers hovering over them for a few moments until finally he pinched his lips together tightly and selected a few of them. The leaves crushed between his startlingly powerful and strong fingertips and palms. The room filled abruptly with the scent of the healing herbs.

Inuyasha felt his stomach tighten with the scent. His throat was raw when he watched Isha bow and mutter, "Forgive me," to Kagome's black and blue leg before he began to press the herbs into her wound.

Immediately Kagome's eyes fluttered and she flared her lip instinctually, exposing her white teeth in pain. Her hands clamped down on Inuyasha's arms through his sleeves. The hanyou forced himself not to react to the ripples of suffering her felt through their link and heard in her weakened, feverish voice.

More herbs came after the first. Some in balms made to rub over her wounds, others for creams made to soak into her skin all over. Still others were prepared in soups that the healer cautiously tried to spoon feed her. When his initial efforts met with mess and failure, Inuyasha demanded the medicine-laden soup be passed to him instead. The hanyou managed to get the half-conscious young woman to swallow a little of the soup reflexively. The hard press of Isha's lips told Inuyasha nothing of the healer's inner thoughts. He clung steadily to the belief that she was strong, Kagome would pull through—she had to.

The hours passed with a cruel slowness that made Inuyasha nauseous. Eventually his nose seemed to lose all sense completely with the nonstop bombardment of the herbs and the hanyou lost track of the many odd fragrances Isha used on Kagome in his efforts to treat her. Apparently Kagome's sense of pain also diminished, though whether she was merely numbed or accustomed to its intensity after a time, Inuyasha didn't know. Her mind still spun feverishly, half touching his and then shying away again, like a frightened bird or a mouse fearing the cat's pounce.

It was midday, and the room where Kagome was housed was already stifling when Isha finally finished his treatment and left. He left quietly, murmuring a few prayers for good health and swift recovery under his breath as he slipped away, into the hallway. Maribi came and went after the healer vanished, but Inuyasha hardly noticed as Kagome shivered and sweated through her fevers and the pain the venom inflicted on her body. He was thankful, however, when he looked up and noticed, with an absent flick of his ears, that she'd opened the screens to let the air in.

Inuyasha's inner sense of the world told him it was nearly dark by the time he heard footsteps and voices out on the stairs. Relief swarmed through him—it was probably Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kilala. Kagome might be encouraged by their presence, and perhaps Miroku would know some way to ease her suffering with a spell, though he doubted it.

Fatigue weighed on Inuyasha, but he refused to show it. Clenching his jaw tightly, he gave Kagome's shoulders an encouraging squeeze before the others arrived. She moaned lightly and her face furrowed briefly, and Inuyasha carefully brushed aside the sweat-drenched locks of her black hair that had plastered themselves to her cheeks and forehead. Before he could quite catch himself, Inuyasha heard a tiny, plaintive whimper, like a puppy's cry, rise from the back of his throat.

Her skin was hot and damp, sticky to his touch. Her cheeks were so flushed with the heat of her fever that she looked as if she'd run a mile, trying to keep up with him on a Shard-hunt. Beneath her lids her eyes fluttered erratically, wild in her delirium. Through their link he knew she was dreaming, dreaming about dying, dreaming about disappearing out of existence completely…and she was _alone_ in her dreams, cut off, shattered, and alone…

Maribi's footsteps stopped outside the door and Inuyasha swallowed hard, moving to sit back slightly from Kagome. He watched the small woman kneel down and duck her head in something of a hurried bow to him as she spoke. "You and the patient have a guest."

Inuyasha scowled, trying to see past Maribi, but the "guest" was still outside in the hallway. Only the creak of the floorboards gave the person away. Inuyasha cursed the strong stench of the herbs the healer had used on Kagome—they blinded him to the hidden "guest's" scent.

"Guest?" he repeated, half-growling.

"Yes." Maribi risked looking at him once, and then her eyes slid to Kagome's shivering, sweating form. "They could almost be sisters…" she blinked, as if the announcement startled even her, "Or twins!"

Something constricted inside Inuyasha's gut. "Her…twin?"

Maribi nodded, appearing perplexed at his ominous, solemn expression. "She has asked to speak with you…"

Inuyasha glanced hesitantly to Kagome. Slowly his ears flattened against his skull, his golden eyes narrowed. Carefully, he peeled himself from her grasp, his mouth quirking downwards in guilt and shame when she whimpered and sent her thin, frail fingers questing for his comforting touch again. His face was red and burning when he stood before Maribi, his body was stiff.

"Step aside," he grunted.

"But she has come to visit you—"

"Yeah, but I ain't going to let her near Kagome." He glanced once back toward the sick girl, and his face softened. "She's been through enough."

Stumbling to her feet, Maribi stepped out of the hanyou's way and squeezed herself into a corner, letting Inuyasha pass through the narrow doorway. Inuyasha completely lost all sight and interest in her the moment he caught his first up close whiff of the "guest." She smelled of graveyard soil, and the thin, bitter winds of late autumn, when the summer's greenery is fading fast—dying. Yet underneath those scents, Inuyasha's nose could discern the woman's deeper, more hidden and natural scents far easier than he should've been able to.

He knew long before she appeared out of the shadows just who she was, and his heart and stomach flipped over one another, sending waves of dizziness through him as he wondered how he could survive the encounter…

Her name sprang immediately to his lips in a harsh, gruff whisper.

"Kikyo."

* * *


	20. Kikyo

**Disc:**Nope I'm too poor to own Inuyasha

**A/N:** I know that by rights this story was NOT supposed to be updated, but this is the one that wrote itself just recently. I've been...busy...you know, college, novel editing, that whole drill :-( Anyway, so this is what came out...I think Mrs. H is really good here (congrats to LukeShaehl who figured me out, btw!) I shan't spoil the surprise here...so I wrote this and the majority of it I'm like...eh...not sure about...so if you guys REALLY hate it and scream at me I'd probably remove it and rewrite and repost. See the situation is...eh...never been handled before, really. So...yeah, not so sure about this chapter but read on anyway and tell me what you think. WOAWO will be coming...but for now this story just decided to write itself, and so i went with it. Laters! R and R and stuff ;-)

**

* * *

Kikyo**

"How is that possible?" I gaped. My mind was spinning; the world seemed to be floating. When I blinked, her image wavered before me, at times appearing more normal—without the red-brown ears that twitched atop her head—and a second later she'd seem even less human somehow. The sparkle in her green eyes was devious, almost enough to stir fear within me. I wondered if the old stories Grandpa used to spin were partially true. Could malevolent kitsune spirits invade our hearts and souls and tease our minds in times of grief? Was I possessed somehow…?

But when the woman looked away from me, her reddish ears still twitching and swiveling, I found the panic starting to recede. She hadn't become evil suddenly; she'd merely shown me a truer, hidden nature. Curiosity rushed through me then and I moved a little closer to her, lowering my voice as I glanced around the Shrine grounds. Souta was busy elsewhere…I wondered faintly if he could see her features too, if he tried, or if what the Keshikaran woman was showing me would only be exposed to my eyes alone.

"Why shouldn't it be possible?" she countered my earlier question, one ear folding backwards with what I took to be annoyance. "There are demons in this day and age—you just would never know it." And she broke out grinning then and turned her face back toward me, beaming with pride. "And there are more half demons than ever now."

"Now?" again the world seemed to float, as if I'd abruptly been submerged miles under the ocean. I had a little trouble drawing breath and thinking at the same time.

"I suppose you thought that demons were dead?" she smirked, "Sorry, Mrs. Higurashi, but the truth is that a lot of us survived. In fact I've just given you the answer to one of your questions without you ever realizing it." Her eyes were full of amusement. She was _teasing_ me.

"What?" I tried, I really did, but nothing made sense. I couldn't make myself think or form coherent thoughts just yet. "What question?"

"You wonder why the Tetsusaiga family keeps their myth under wraps? You wonder why most of the Keshikarans won't talk more than two words with you? Do you know why you don't know _anything_ about the Byakko family, or the Taishita family too for that matter…"

I interrupted her, shaking my head and raising my voice with growing frustration. "You're not making any sense!"

Kagome Keshikaran snapped her mouth shut then and stared at me, her face expressionless. On her head the reddish ears faded out of my sight. I noticed once again the red highlights in her hair and the dullness of the green within her eyes suddenly. It was some sort of magic, all right. How many demons had I spoken to within my lifetime, and never thought anything of it? How many times had Gramps told a wild story that I'd laughed about and dismissed? I wished fervently then that he could have seen Kagome Keshikaran, that he could've seen the red of her fox ears twittering atop her head.

Even my Kagome had believed that demons were extinct from our modern day world! She couldn't have imagined just how wrong she was…

"Sorry." Kagome Keshikaran grumbled, sighing, "I guess I got a little too enthusiastic." She lowered her eyes, abruptly bashful with me, "You see I've been waiting a century for this moment…"

_That_ made me stop breathing for uncountable heartbeats. I stared at her as if she'd grown a tail—which at that point wouldn't really have surprised me anymore. "You don't look…" I started to comment on her age and she laughed, revealing bright white, sharp little canines that I knew suddenly were fangs.

"Don't worry about it. You'll get it eventually. And actually my mother and my grandfather have been waiting around for you much, _much_ longer." She smirked with a knowing twinkle in her eyes. I struggled with myself to restrain a shudder at the mischief I saw burning there in the resurfacing green again.

"Who…" I swallowed hard, "Who's your mother? How are you a Keshikaran? I thought they were human. Their myth it's about a curse…" my mind was foggy and muddled, I prayed that the kitsune Kagome would be careful and slow in her explanation.

"My immediate family is different from the rest of the Keshikarans." She sighed a little, turning to stare at the God tree as she spoke, her voice growing quieter and more solemn than before. The wind picked up a little, rustling the leaves about noisily.

"So they aren't all half-demons?"

She snorted once and wrapped her arms around herself. "No. They all have a little demon in them though…" she threw me a meaningful sidelong glance. "They are all part dog demon, you know—as are the Tetsusaigas. Our ancestors were the same: one human and one dog demon. So that makes me distantly a hybrid twice over." She grinned, proudly, but the expression was pointed not at me but at the ground. "I'm a tiny part dog and half-fox."

"Your mother was the fox demon." It was beginning to fit together now. She could be apart of the Keshikaran family, bearing their last name, if her mother was the demon, not her father. It was an odd turn around, thinking of the demon as a woman. I sensed there was more that Kagome Keshikaran had to explain, something wilder, more meaningful, but I didn't know what words she needed me to say so she could reveal it. Finally I blurted, "Who is your mother?"

Her face was as still as glass, like the waters of a frozen pond in the dead of winter. "My mother is Shippo Byakko's youngest daughter, Aka." When she saw my expression change with shock and recognition, she grinned ecstatically. "You've heard my grandfather's name before, haven't you, Mrs. Higurashi?"

"Shippo…" I stared, wonderingly, at the Keshikaran woman before me. How was it possible…? And then suddenly I felt as if I might pass out. I swayed a little and Kagome reached out immediately and grabbed my shoulder, supporting me.

"Are you okay?" there was both worry and laughter in her voice.

"Yes." It came out as a moan, "I _need_ to talk to your grandfather. He _knows,_ doesn't he?"

"He does." Her voice had dropped to a whisper, "He does. He remembers everything, and I think he has a message for you. He's passed it on to my mother too, just in case. None of us knew exactly _when_ you would come, or _if_ you would at all. He asked my mother to name me after her because he wanted you to find me…and because he told me most of it."

My hands were shaking when I tried to push myself away from her support. _She knew._ This young woman had the answers I'd been searching for. I could remember my little girl's face filing with anguish the first day she'd mentioned a tiny kitsune demon she and Inuyasha had saved from some evil killers—the Thunder Brothers. The horror she'd felt for the little boy she described to me. The monsters had worn the child's father as a _coat._ And now, wonder of wonders, just as my daughter and Inuyasha had saved little Shippo, now his descendent bore my daughter's name in gratitude, and she'd saved _me_ with the promise of answers.

"Tell me." I grabbed old of Kagome Keshikaran's arm, pulling on her, "Tell me everything you know." I hardly recognized the sound of my own voice, so needy and desperate. "What happened to Kagome? Was she happy? Did she live a long, happy life? Will I ever—"

Kagome Keshikaran shushed me, putting one finger to my lips. Behind that silencing hand she was grinning widely. "Grandfather made me promise not to tell you—he wants to do it himself."

"When can I see him?" I blurted, pulling on her arm again.

"He's ready for you any time that you're ready for him." she grinned, and again I fancied that her eyes gleamed brightly with green. "Just name a time…"

I answered immediately, remembering when Souta would be occupied with his date, "Is 6:30 tonight good?"

Still grinning, she nodded, and then seemed to shrink a little. Abruptly she was only human again. Though I strained my eyes trying to pierce her gloomier outer-shell of humanity, Kagome Keshikaran refused to let me see anything more than the tentative glimmer of her brown-green eyes and the shine of red highlights in her hair.

"It was good visiting with you, Lady Higurashi." She bowed from the waist up, reverently, with a grace that she'd been lacking not two minutes ago as the excitable kitsune half demon. "I shall tell my grandfather that you're coming and I'll stop a little after six to escort you."

She winked at me and then, before I'd hardly realized it at all, she was gone.

* * *

He saw her, stepping out of the shadows of another room, another doorway that was directly next to where Kagome was staying, sick and shivering in her sweat-drenched sheets. The "guest" that had come to see them wore the garb of a priestess, white on top, red on the bottom. Her black hair was long and straight, flowing down her back in a way that had always reminded Inuyasha of a waterfall…

Her skin was deathly pale, as white as white paint, white as the untarnished snow that Inuyasha loved to trample into the mud each winter as a pup. Her eyes were narrower than he could ever remember them being in life, and they were seemingly darker as well. The shine and sparkle of life that lit Kagome's brown eyes was completely leeched from this woman's stony gaze.

"Inuyasha." She dipped her head slightly, "I've finally found you." her words were heavy, as was her breath, she sounded tired, exhausted.

The hanyou's stance was tense, almost bristling. "Kikyo…we haven't seen you for months." He scowled, ears flicking uncertainly, "We thought you were dead…" he swallowed hard, his throat muscles constricting visibly and shifting.

"I should be dead." Leveling her cold stare on him, Kikyo was unflinching.

"You…" the hanyou's shoulders sagged, he let out a long, loud breath. Behind him Maribi excused herself hurriedly, sensing the tension between the couple, and vanished around the corner. Inuyasha waited until he heard her footsteps on the creaky stairs, pursing his lips. In Kagome's room he could hear the girl's weak moans of pain. He wondered if she could feel the tiny echo of Kikyo's resurrected soul calling to her own.

He snatched a glance at the pale, deathly face of the woman he'd once loved, and felt something sad twist through him. She was so pale and cold, he could feel the chill flowing from her like a disease. It was in sharp contrast to the warmth Kagome had always exuded, the pure, untarnished heat. When had she faded so? Why hadn't he noticed such a difference until now? Was it pity he was feeling, was that why he found he couldn't push her away? As much as he knew it would hurt Kagome if she somehow knew, he couldn't send Kikyo away, he just couldn't. Twin guilts for seemingly identical women battled one another within him.

Kikyo broke the silence first. "I've come for my reincarnation, the girl, Kagome." Her tone was careful and formal.

Alarm bells rang inside Inuyasha's head. He focused on the wall to his right, looking at the individual grooves in the wood used to make it. He wanted to rip something into pieces with frustration. "You can't have her." he snapped, simply. His ears folded back with a silent statement: _If you try to take her without my permission I will fight you._

"You think I wish to harm her, my own reincarnation." It wasn't a question.

The hanyou's golden eyes finally snapped to her, the menace in them barely restrained. "You've not exactly been on good terms with her."

Kikyo's pale hands rose slowly, reaching for Inuyasha's broad shoulders. He stared at her, golden eyes locked on her face, not her hands. His ears flicked uncertainly, almost shaking as if he were cold. When her touch was inches from him, Inuyasha took one careful, meaningful step backward. His ears fell back again in silent warning.

"Why are you here? What do you want with Kagome?" despite the seriousness of his words, his tone remained gentle, almost melancholy.

The dead priestess lowered her eyes, but not before Inuyasha saw the fleeting pain pass over her face in a sad, pathetic shadow. "I am here because it is time." She whispered faintly, "I can save her…"

Inuyasha tensed, sensing the unspoken ifs and buts of her previous words keenly. He stared at her directly, willing her to speak the truth. "Why would you do that?" His words were still breathless and quiet. A very gentle, very rare and passive tone for the warrior-like hanyou.

"I will do it only if you answer me one question, Inuyasha." Now it was her turn to stare at the wooden walls.

"How can you save her?" Inuyasha scowled, skeptical of the dead priestess's words.

Kikyo closed her eyes wearily. She was still not looking at him, and with some alarm, Inuyasha noticed that her exhausted appearance was unchanged. Her breathing was still deep and almost labored. "I am a priestess, Inuyasha. I can purify the poison within her."

He shifted, one ear turning to listen to Kagome as she slept fitfully in her feverish dreams. His golden gaze had softened somewhat. "You wouldn't hurt her…?"

Slowly, almost defiantly, Kikyo lifted her eyes, staring him down. "No, I could not." Her tone was bitter. "But I will not help her unless you answer my question."

Pursing his lips viciously, Inuyasha nodded once. He didn't like her tone, didn't like the thought of having to answer her questions—but for Kagome…

There was a heavy, thick silence. Neither hanyou nor dead priestess looked at the other, and both were acutely aware of Kagome's weak, troubled moans from inside the room where she suffered in her poison-induced delirium. Though he struggled to keep his facve expressionless, the tension and worry inside Inuyasha built beyond his ability to manage or hide it. The corners of his eyes crinkled, narrowing. To anyone watching he aged, quietly ruled by the two women like a comet coerced into a path like a yoyo by the gravity of the stars and the planets.

"Do you love her?"

The hanyou, caught by surprise, stared at Kikyo with wide amber eyes for a moment. After the initial shock he took a defensive step backwards, moving his powerful body to halfway block the entrance to Kagome's room. Her moans made the hairs on his body bristle, as if he were spoiling for a fight.

"That's your question?" he growled, pretending to look at her.

The dead priestess let out a slow, deep sigh. It was so slow that Inuyasha crossed his arms, hiding his hands in his sleeves, and took yet another step backward in retreat. His body tightened, muscles tense with the perceived threat. His mind whirled, desperately trying to solve Kikyo's motives and give her the right answer—whether it was the truth or not.

"Are you in love with my reincarnation, Inuyasha? Is she the one that you've chosen?"

Inuyasha shifted his ears flicking, shaking though he tried to stop them. His face was twisted with what might've been pain, but looked more like constipation than true emotion. "You want me to choose?" his voice was a choked growl.

"Yes." She stared at him, dark narrow eyes in a snow-white mask. Her lips were nearly colorless.

What should he say? What was right? Kagome's moans reached his ears again, a little shriller than before. Why would Kikyo ask him such a question unless she had come to claim him at long last? Had she come to demand his life, his soul? He'd promised her just that, long ago, but never intended on meeting her sweet, beautiful, vivacious reincarnation…

If he told the truth, if he broke his promise to Kikyo, he had no doubt that she would exact her revenge. There was nothing more frightening than a bitter spirit bent on revenge…and this particular soul wielded the purifying magic of a miko. Did Kikyo plan to kill Kagome if he didn't hold true to his promise? Would she cure Kagome and take him with her to the underworld if he chose her? Inuyasha weighed the outcomes: his life against Kagome's, Kikyo's diminished, bitter soul against Kagome's warm, cheerful spirit. And what of his own? A trouble-maker, an accident, an abomination—a hanyou.

He swallowed thickly and finally lifted his eyes to her—and saw, for a moment, Kagome. But she was not the Kagome he knew and loved, she was dying, dying away. He'd lost Kikyo once, been deceived into believing she'd betrayed him. His love for her had faded into a respect, a duty to her memory. That duty failed when held up against his duty to Kagome. He'd already failed Kagome so many times, and she'd always stuck by him. In the scant seconds he had left before he answered, he prayed that he'd chosen correctly because he didn't think that he could truly bring himself to kill Kikyo, even if she was threatening Kagome.

The golden irises shone with a mixture of frustration, fear, and…something else. His expression wrinkled once and he opened his mouth to speak. At first nothing coherent emerged but then, finally, he croaked a name, "Kikyo…you, I…" the words were thick on his tongue, like mud.

Kikyo lifted one pale hand in a silencing motion. "You would choose me?" she gave away no emotion as she spoke the words.

Inuyasha forced himself to hold her gaze unflinchingly. "Yes."

A small, cold smile broke over the priestess's colorless lips. "You're lying, Inuyasha."

The hanyou's ears fell backwards, and his stance shifted slightly, a wordless declaration that he was ready for battle. He didn't bother to argue with her, didn't bother to try lying again, and didn't admit to the falsehood either.

"You still think I would harm her?" there was a momentary flicker within Kikyo's eyes, but it passed quickly, leaving her usual cold, bland stare instead.

The hanyou offered her no reply, but his defensive stance was answer enough.

Kikyo lowered her eyes slowly, as if submitting, but Inuyasha tensed in response, as if expecting attack. None came, and after a moment, when he'd loosened slightly, Kikyo took in a long, slow breath, and began speaking.

"There is a flaw within my soul, Inuyasha—and it's destroying me. I couldn't understand why at first until I came across some traveling monks on the road. They spoke of Saishii, a scholar among them who wishes to learn anything he can about magic as it is related to time. The story they told me explained the reason for my suffering." She lifted her eyes to Inuyasha, who'd gradually started to meet her eyes directly once again, listening intently. "They told me the Great Saishii was interested in a woman who was said to travel through time using a well in the Inuyasha Forest. But the magic within the well recently stopped, trapping her here. I knew then that they spoke of her, my reincarnation."

"The well did stop." Inuyasha murmured, his voice quiet but rumbling deep inside his chest, "But why would it…" he scowled and moved a step closer to her, concern flashing in his golden eyes. "Kikyo?"

She turned slightly; avoiding his probing gaze and exposing her profile more to the hanyou. Inuyasha's breath whistled with surprise—the priestess he'd once loved with all his being had diminished. Physically she was little more than a wraith. "While she is here, trapped in the same time with me, her soul draws on mine. We cannot remain as separate women, as separate beings." She lowered her head, shoulders sagging. "She is meant to be here, not me, and not both of us together."

Though there seemed to be no menace in her words, Inuyasha tensed. Would Kikyo, in some desperate ploy to save herself try to kill his Kagome? Didn't the priestess resent Kagome? His instinct was to keep her away from Kagome when the woman from the future was so weak, and her perceived rival from the past was at the very least still standing and still bitter and hurt from things long in the past.

But if she really could purify the poison and save Kagome…? And what, if she was telling the truth about Kagome's soul drawing on her, was there for Kikyo to gain? Would it _destroy_ Kikyo?

"Kikyo…" he scowled, uncomfortable and unhappy and terribly confused. The conversation could end in either woman's death, perhaps both. Inuyasha became aware of a nasty, painful lump forming in his throat, a familiar menace that always attacked him whenever he thought of either of them dead or dying. He turned his eyes away from her, gritting his teeth and clenching his hands up into fists.

"Shh." Kikyo's shushing sound was almost more of a sigh, half made through her nose. Inuyasha cringed when he scented salty, earthy tears rising out of the undead miko. "You think I have come to kill her." she whispered, "But you're wrong."

"Did you…" his voice croaked and faded out, faltering, before Inuyasha growled and forced out a more powerful sentence. "Did you come back for me?" despite himself his words wavered, as if he were afraid or about to shed unforgivable, unimaginable tears. "I couldn't break my promise to you…" it was only half true, and Inuyasha found he couldn't meet her eyes, couldn't say the words without thinking that she was someone else…

"Would you really leave her?" Kikyo's stark, darkened eyes in their purplish, sunken sockets challenged him openly, shouting _I know you're lying!_ When Inuyasha didn't answer, and didn't look her in the eye again, Kikyo pursed her lips and nodded once, as if he had answered her question rather than stayed silent. "Say it out loud, Inuyasha. Tell me that Kagome is the one you've chosen. Tell me why I feel the bond between you and she singing somewhere inside my own soul. Tell me the truth, Inuyasha, not what you think I want to hear."

Growling, Inuyasha's ears swiveled, listening to the eerie stillness that had descended inside Kagome's room. Only the schoolgirl's breathing continued on, reassuring the hanyou that she lived. "Kikyo…"

"Tell me what you will do, Inuyasha, if she lives." Kikyo closed her eyes, her lips barely moved as she spoke. They appeared thick, as if numbed by a dentist from Kagome's time period.

"I…" his ears disappeared in the flowing mane of silver-white hair, the amber eyes were pinned on Kikyo's form now, unwavering.

"If you don't tell me, I'll let her die."

The chill in her voice made Inuyasha snap to attention bristling. "She's not going to die, dammit!" clawed hands formed threatening fists, "I won't _let_ that happen!"

"Then you must trust me, Inuyasha. Trust me as you would trust her…" she opened her eyes again and stared unseeingly into the shadows of Kagome's room. "She and I are the same woman, the same soul, torn apart by magic and time and bitterness." Her shoulders sagged again, defeated, resignedly. "I must go to her—but before I do, I want to know that you will set things right, Inuyasha."

"Set things right?" he echoed her, slowly, uncertainly. He was frozen where he stood, mentally and physically by shock and confusion.

"You are bound to her, and she is bound to you. And through her I am also bound to you. That is how it is meant to be. Admit that you've chosen her, and she _will_ live…" she breathed slowly once before speaking a last time, "…_I_ will live on as part of her. We are the same."

Slowly the hanyou nodded, though inwardly he was a roiling mass of confusion and warring emotions, like a twisted pile of angry, venomous snakes, and allowed Kikyo to slip slowly past him. She paused just inside, wavering slightly, as if caught off balance. Inuyasha heard her breath wheezing unsteadily. He reached one clawed hand out to keep her steady. Those same clawed hands, he thought, slaughtered demons everyday…and though all flesh should've been the same to such implements of doom, Inuyasha knew with a certainty that what was happening here was irreversible. If he was wrong, if Kikyo was bent on some sort of twisted revenge, he could never bring himself to slay her and save Kagome. It would be too cruel, too painful for him to withstand. His weakness would doom Kagome…

For a moment his fist tightened on her, feeling the cold flesh underneath her clothes, and Inuyasha considered pulling the dead priestess away from the living one. Stark fear made his mouth dry; his blood pulsed through his head and ears wildly. _How can I risk Kagome like this!_

Kikyo turned her head to the side, peering at him from the corner of one dark, hallow eye. "Let go of me, Inuyasha." She warned, but rather than be menacing, her tone was simply cold and weary. "If I were to kill her, I would die as well."

He released her, cautiously, and all at once he felt boneless, as if he were a fish that had been torn open and gutted, its spine pulled free and the flesh flayed. He watched, prone with a sort of terrorized detachment, as Kikyo knelt at Kagome's bedside, much like the doctor had before. Her thin, wizened frame bent forward, crouched with prayer, her eyes dipped closed. Abruptly, Inuyasha felt his skin prickle, a breeze started in the darkened room.

A halo of dark purple rose in a small aura around Kikyo's body—the priestess had called out her miko's spiritual power. With infinite slowness, and a tenderness reserved for infants, Kikyo laid one thin, frail fingered hand on Kagome's forehead, the other hovered over the ugly black stain that grew over her skin as the poison spread within her body. The glow intensified, seeming to suck in the only light of the room. Inuyasha tensed, feeling a splitting pain start within his own head as the purifying energy of the miko slipped into the room.

On the futon, amidst her sweaty covers, Kagome cried out sharply, flinching—and a moment later Kikyo made a smaller noise, almost in mimicry. The light in the room changed, becoming brighter, bluer than before. Just as Inuyasha cringed, shutting one eye against the strength of the light, it vanished completely and he felt a jolt within his mind. His link with Kagome flared open wide, full of confusion and lethargy—but free of pain and suffering and feverish delirium.

"Kagome?" he took a preemptive step forward, only to stop as he registered Kagome's shock in his mind and the fact that Kikyo had collapsed against Kagome's stomach, her hands sprawled widely over her reincarnation's body.

"K-Kikyo?" the schoolgirl croaked, blinking bleary eyes confusedly, and gingerly touching the older priestess. Her eyes searched the room when the floorboards creaked underneath Inuyasha's feet. "Inuyasha?" she sounded frightened.

Inuyasha stepped forward hurriedly, taking hold of Kikyo's body gingerly and calling her name quietly. Again he felt his face burning as he attended to the fallen priestess. Surely Kagome was angry with him for…he jumped, startled and immediately tensing when he felt Kikyo's cold, hard fingers squeeze his wrist.

"Kikyo?" he rasped, trying to see her face through the waterfall of long, flowing black hair.

Her fingers tightened their icy grip, Inuyasha smelled her breath when she spoke, full of earth scents. Minerals, pill bugs and earthworms, leaves turning red on the maples in autumn, and the smell just before the sky sheds its tears as rain. His golden eyes widened as he noticed the fine lines—like the cracks in dried soil or clay—that were forming on her hands and arms and on the few places he could see the skin of her neck exposed. She was crumbling away.

"What will you do, Inuyasha?" she asked, her voice like rustling leaves.

He set his jaw, knowing full well what she was asking. Slowly, he lifted his eyes from her frail, crumbling form, and met Kagome's widened eyes. He took in the dark circles imprinted there by her recent sickness, the thin layer of sweat ad oils covering her skin, the slight curl of her black hair, and the way her lips were parted slightly, her tongue, pink as cherry blossoms or Shippo's bubble-gum, was hidden inside. He could see Kikyo in her more than ever before. In the solemn depths of her eyes, the part of her that was swiftly transforming from schoolgirl of the 21st century to woman of the Feudal Era, Kikyo had imparted her ageless wisdom…

No matter what form she took, no matter if she was called Kikyo or Kagome, or had most of her soul or all of it, Inuyasha suddenly understood the futileness of denying the obvious. Kagome was his, and he was Kagome's. He couldn't run from the truth, he couldn't turn away fate or rewrite his destiny.

"I choose Kagome." He stared her down, speaking with his eyes more than his voice. Kagome stared back—and though he could feel her shock resounding within her through the link—she showed none of it. Instead her eyes clouded with tears and she reached, hesitantly for Kikyo's nearly motionless, barely living body. Inuyasha could hear her silent question through the link…_What about Kikyo?_

As if she'd read their thoughts, the miko shuddered out a weak command. "Take my hand." She let go of Inuyasha and stretched herself forward, lifting her head slowly to stare at Kagome a last time as the schoolgirl timidly reached for her. The room seemed to glow blue when the two priestesses, sisters in time, touched one another. The air chilled.

Inuyasha watched, tensely, as the two mikos made their tentative contact, and then, suddenly, Kikyo lurched forward, pressing her weakened, bone thin body against Kagome's strong living one. Kagome made a choking, gasping sound, as if in pain—and Inuyasha was swamped abruptly with her fear.

"Kagome!"

* * *

For a moment Kagome was cold. Not cold as if she might start shivering a little, but cold down inside her very bones. It was a cold that was so deep it terrified her, but despite it she could still feel the blood pounding through her, and distantly the warm, blazing touch of Inuyasha's mind and soul, probing hers worriedly. She threw her fear and consternation at the abyssal chill, and suddenly felt that chill ease, like melting water, gushing over her, spilling and flowing away.

'_You are complete now, as am I. The curse of my bitterness is gone. I have given you all my powers and my training.'_

She recognized Kikyo's presence more than her actual voice, and realized the coldness that had absorbed and surrounded her before—it was Kikyo, and Kikyo was changing and dissolving away _into_ her. Kagome slowly realized she'd begun shivering, but the terrible freeze within her core had vanished, replaced by a slowly spreading warmth instead. It rose from deep within her and spread outward, reaching for her cold, damp and clammy skin last of all. She felt her heart pick up speed and power.

'_There is one thing you must know. You would do best to be watchful—Naraku is plotting, he will come for the Shards soon…it is only you that can truly defeat him, but at a cost.'_

Kagome struggled to speak, trying to ask Kikyo for more details. The older priestess seemed infinitely wiser and more powerful even as she dissipated. She felt a slow tingling heat infuse her then, and dimly realized that it was Kikyo transformed, Kikyo reshaped and melded with her soul.

'_Good bye, Kagome…'_

And then her nose tickled and she felt the real world smack into her. The weight of Kikyo's body abruptly vanished, replaced by dust. Blinkingly, she coughed and sneezed through it, realizing that Inuyasha was shouting her name and shaking on of her shoulders. Kikyo had given up her soul, turning the body she'd used into nothing more than the lump of graveyard soils and clay that the sorceress that had reanimated her had used. The dusty, dried remnants dirtied the futon's sheets and scratched and tickled on Kagome's legs and arms.

Inside her mind Inuyasha was half-repeating her name over and over again with worry. Distantly she felt him move toward her, wrapping his strong arms around her shoulders. He touched her hair, arms, and waist several times over, reverently, as if reassuring himself that she was still among the living. As if he feared she too might suddenly explode into bone dust.

"Kagome! Kagome, answer me! Are you okay? Kagome!"

She nudged him through their link and slowly lifted her tired arms free of the dust in her lap, circling her arms around the hanyou. "I'm fine." But even as she spoke the words she squeezed her eyes shut and heard herself whimpering, felt herself shivering. The trauma of the demon snake bite and its terrible venom, and then the shock of waking to Kikyo kneeling at her bedside—it was a little much.

At the first salty drop of her tears, Inuyasha growled and tightened his hold on her, as if afraid that she'd slip away. "Dammit—don't cry!"

"I can't help it." She pressed her face against his robes and gritted her teeth at the feeling of the dust all over her, the sticky sweat still layered over her body from her fever, and the ache in her leg where the poison's damage was only just starting to register with her. Kikyo had given up her separate existence, power, and knowledge—and she'd never really had the wrongs against her rectified. Kagome found she appreciated the other woman's actions, but didn't feel that she was actually worthy of them…she just wanted to go home again…

Unknowingly she passed this impression straight through the link and to the hanyou. When he spoke, using a quiet, low growl, she almost gasped in surprise. "You _are_ home, Kagome."

Kagome's eyes sprang open wide with shock, but she shook her head against him, refusing to accept his words, "No—"

"Kikyo said that you are _meant_ to be here." She felt him rub his cheek over her head. "She said that she had to come. She said…" his voice croaked a little as he struggled to voice the words properly, "If you died, she would die too."

The uncertain emotions rippled through Kagome still, even as she sensed Inuyasha's strange, solemn peace through the link. She wasn't worthy of Kikyo's sacrifice—she felt selfish for it. She'd never wished for the responsibility of the Jewel, never wished to have a life so complicated that she worried continuously about herself or others dying in demon attacks. If she'd been given the choice years ago, when she'd jumped down the well on her birthday, knowing what she knew now, would she still do it? Would she have knowingly made the same decision again? Was she _strong_ enough to survive alone without the encouragement and love of her family in the 21st century?

She felt her link with Inuyasha flare for a moment, exposing his minor frustration with her for her failure to understand. But just as quickly as that was exposed, she found herself blinking as she realized that the hanyou had pushed the irritation away. Instead he had refocused his thoughts on a different emotion, a much stronger, much realer feeling…

The hanyou growled once and she felt his claws stroke evocatively over the bumps of her spine down to the small of her back, tickling. _You're not alone, Kagome. I'm with you._ She shivered as he moved his head to the side of her face until his breath tickled her ears. A thrill passed through her, making her stomach do flip flops as he inhaled slowly, taking in her scent. _I'll always be with you. You're mine._

She felt his lips touch lightly against her ear for a moment, and then he pressed them to her jaw line, feeling her pulse. He started to make a sound that was deeper than a growl somehow. It resonated, traveling through the hanyou's body and into her own through her throat. _My mate._

Shutting her eyes against the swell of tears again, Kagome whimpered and buried her face into the red folds of his haori. _My mate._

* * *

Far away, still sheltered by his dark room, Naraku stared into Kanna's mirror as it flashed the scene before him. Behind one hand he smirked, his reddish eyes narrowed with an amused sort of hatred.

"Good." The word rolled off his tongue smoothly in his deep, rich voice, "Everything has gone exactly as I'd planned."

His dry laughter was quiet but triumphant as he waved Kanna's bright white form away, blanketing the image of the schoolgirl and the hanyou in darkness.

* * *

Endnote: Yep...what's Naraku planning? Hehe, yeah I got it figured out for the most part...and once again: (congrats to LukeShaehl who figured me out P) Kagome Keshikaran's mom is Shippo's daughter, her fatherwas theKeshikaran man, (a descendent of Kagome, Inuyasha, Miroku and Sango) her name is Aka. Uh...guess that's all I got. I gotta see if there are scholarships for singing b/c I'm taking lessons again, and then I gotta go to the library to get books for an English College Comp project due in less than a week, and then I gotta finish editing and rewriting my novel hopefully by December so I can send it to DAW publishers first off and get a response by Valentine's Day hopefully. Yep...busy busy...I wish I had some gum and som Tylenol for this headache...Until next time! 


	21. Mikata

**Disclaimer:** you know what I'm going to say...

**A/N:** Well I had another wild night...so I'm posting again. Hmm...interesting pattern, eh? I really love this answering you reviewers directly. It is really awesome...Kay, off to explaining this chapter. The beginning is a humorous tale of Miroku in a brothel. Well it starts off sorta humorous. You'll see. The chapter is named after Miroku's "favorite" woman in the brothel. The second part is initial Kagome-IY interactions after her sickness. I'm trying to demonstrate Inu's slight change in behavior now. He's like unabashedly...well you'll see. As usual I feel like I sucked this chapter, which has been happening continuosly with college now and with my...eh...romance? I don't know what I can call it. He was like tickling my shoulder and stroking my thigh when no one was looking at the party, but yeah, lips are sealed. Someone hit me for treating this thing like a journal, please! Anyway, other notes, other notes...No Mrs. H in this chapter. I had too much else to do. and **_Mikata_** means "Ally" in Japanese. You shall see just why as you read. Anyway, read on! Read and review! I'll answer any and all questions! I LOVE email from you guys!

**

* * *

Mikata**

"Ah, Houshi-sama!" the woman's crooked-toothed smile leered up at the warm, gentle face of her visitor. "Couldn't stay away, could you?" she cackled, scooting away from the entrance to allow him through.

Miroku cleared his throat uncertainly once as he ducked inside. His hands were tucked together, hidden in his sleeves as Inuyasha often stood when he was trying to be aloof or quiet. Between the circle of his arms his golden staff jangled merrily. "Lady Kyoko—I came merely for the pleasure of seeing such beautiful ladies, such as yourself—and of course to enjoy your company."

She chuckled once, gruffly, but her smile when she glanced at him was genuine. "You old liar. I know exactly why you come here often enough for me to know you."

"Who am I to argue with such wisdom, Lady Kyoko?"

"Hah! And don't you dare forget it, Houshi-sama." She smirked for a moment longer before finally turning and gesturing for him to follow. "I'll call the girls, I'm sure they'll just love seeing you again. You're our most handsome customer, you know."

Smiling gently, Miroku followed her into the depths of the building until he entered the sitting room, with its low table and the cushions scattered about. Kyoko watched him sit down silently, and then, still smiling, hurried away with small, dainty woman's steps toward the staircase. A moment later and Miroku winced as her high, shrill voice called out the names of the prostitutes that called this building home.

"Mikata! Come downstairs now! Yakumi! Down here! Keisei! Come down here and entertain Houshi-sama! Houshi-sama's here!"

The stairs creaked and thumped, high, twittering feminine voices rang out through the air. Kyoko grinned over at Miroku, sliding over to sit across from him at the table, her eyes sparkling. The girls appeared, each of them with their eyes wide and round with surprise.

"Houshi-sama!" they chorused together, three of them immediately settling onto the cushions nearest to him, grinning and blushing.

As one young woman sat beside Miroku, the monk bowed briefly, mumbling an apology. "I'm afraid, my lady, that that spot is reserved for Lady Mikata."

"But Mikata's so boring! Houshi-sama, she can't be your favorite."

Before Miroku could open his mouth to speak up in reply, a voice low and smooth rose from behind them and to their side. "Naomi, you know it's rude to speak to Houshi-sama that way." The speaker was a little older than most of the other girls that had come to flock around Miroku, but that alone was far from being her only distinctive feature. Her robes were more exquisite than the other women's, colored not a gaudy orange or pink, but bright gold and burgundy instead. And her face was smooth, perfectly round, giving her a sweet, maternal appearance. It was this woman that instantly drew Miroku's complete attention.

Shifting away from the table slightly, Miroku faced the other woman, bowing low. "Mikata, I am honored to see you again. I presume you are well…?"

"I am, Houshi-sama, and I am honored by your visit."

Mikata strode forward, using petite woman's steps, and yet at once exuding an unexplainable confidence and power. Naomi, the younger girl that had taken her seat, vacated the position quickly, the sheepish expression on her face looking very much like a puppy chased away with its tail between its legs. As soon as Naomi was gone, Mikata bowed once to Miroku and then took her seat, dipping her head to each of her younger companions surrounding the table.

The girls started to chatter for a moment, though Miroku remained mostly silent, his violet eyes merely taking in the twittering girls around him. Mikata stared at him intently, a sly twinkle gleaming in the depths of her deep brown eyes.

"What stories have you brought us, Houshi-sama?"

"Oh! Will you tell us more of the demons you travel with?"

"Houshi-sama, I was in the marketplace for Mistress Kyoko just a few days ago and I saw the half-demon you travel with running through the streets with a woman in his arms!"

There were gasps around the table. Only Miroku, Mikata, and Kyoko remained silent.

"What's going on, Houshi-sama?"

"Has the half-breed finally gone mad?" this last question was thrown out by Naomi from behind two hands that were raised in shock over her lips. It earned her nothing more than a stern glare from Miroku, which effectively silenced all the rest of the girls.

At length Kyoko finally cleared her throat and looked between her girls meaningfully. "I think perhaps it's time for us all to leave and get back to business. Everyone but Mikata, go to your rooms! You—Naomi and Tatsumi—go outside and advertise to the men. No laziness, girls! You had all better work or else there won't be any fish for you tonight!"

With groans and muttered disapproval, the girls rose to their feet, each bowing and murmuring their thanks to Miroku for his visit. Then each disappeared, either heading upstairs or out into the street. A moment later Miroku could hear their high, childish voices calling out, "You want a good time, sir? We're always willing…" he closed his ears to that familiar sound and the old desire it struck up within him and focused on Mikata and Kyoko gratefully.

"I thank you, ladies. You honor me…"

Kyoko gave a rough, cough-like laugh. "I just like you, Houshi-sama. You've always treated my girls and Mikata with the greatest respect—no matter what you're here for. Go on upstairs, I can see your impatience in your eyes." She grinned, showing yellowed, crooked teeth mischievously.

"Yes ma'am." Mikata bowed briefly and then reached wordlessly for Miroku's hand. She led the monk slowly up the creaking stairs and through a narrow hall until she rolled aside one of the sliding screen doors and knelt at the threshold, letting Miroku enter first. The monk settled himself in the center of the room, where a small table, low on the ground, held a teakettle, sake, and tiny teacups. Off in one corner there was a messy, thin futon. The room smelled of sweet flowers that were trying to cover the underlying stench of human sweat.

"I'm sure the tea is already cold, Houshi-sama, but if you wish more I will go and fetch it for you…"

"No Mikata, everything is fine the way it is." Miroku smiled slightly as he watched Mikata light the lamps in the room and close the door gently. "Come, sit, I have little time."

She obeyed, sitting on a cushion opposite him. "Is it the same question this day, or a different one?" she inquired.

"The same." Miroku's blue eyes met hers, and now the two revealed their true identities in the deepness of their stare. They were conspirators, intellectuals, thieves, and survivors.

"I'll make you pay a little for it, you know, Houshi-sama." Mikata's eyes narrowed carefully, indicating her seriousness.

Miroku leaned back slightly, appearing to relax. "Of course, my lady. I have…" he reached into his robes, the movement making his golden staff jangle musically, and held a small dark colored pouch lightly. He let it plop onto the table and smirked slightly when he saw Mikata's eyes grow wide at the sound of currency inside. "…just a little money to spare."

"Houshi-sama," she shook her head, eyes flicking from pouch to the monk's smirking face, "Have you been scamming villages again?"

"Of course. You know me too well, Mikata."

She laughed once before she snatched up the pouch of money and pushed amid the folds of her own robes. "Good, then payment is settled. I'll tell you anything I know that can be of use to you, Houshi-sama."

"Tell me what they say about Naraku. Where is he hiding? What is he planning? Why haven't we seen him lately?"

Mikata darted her eyes around the room briefly, avoiding direct contact with Miroku. "He is scheming. That demon is always trouble. He wants the Jewel back."

"None of that is new, Mikata." Though Miroku's tone was casual, both of them knew he was irritated with her general answer. "Tell me how he plans to get it. Tell me where we can find him and kill him. Now that he's lost most of the Jewel it will be an easier task, correct?"

"Defeating Naraku will never be easy, Houshi-sama. You must never underestimate him, Jewel Shards or not." Mikata muttered, staring down at the table as if she was lost within her own thoughts. "But I have heard that he has managed to capture a number of the remaining Shards. He is very careful with them—you won't see them until he's dead."

The monk leaned forward, delving further into the conversation. "There is something I have wondered often. Can we use what power we have in the Shikon Jewel ourselves?"

"I don't know much about the Jewel—only that it is tarnished easily. You must keep it with the miko. Only the miko can draw on its power and not be corrupted, or so I've heard."

"But you don't rightly know…?"

Mikata scowled. "No."

Nodding solemnly, Miroku began his next question. "Tell me, Mikata, have you heard anything about the Bone Eater's well and something called time travel?"

Mikata pursed her lips, "No, I have not; I'm sorry Houshi-sama."

Miroku sighed heavily, pursing his lips. "You have nothing else of interest to tell me, Mikata?" his eyebrows lifted high when she was silent, hesitancy screaming at him in her every feature. Encouraged slightly, though he forced the feeling to remain hidden, Miroku slammed his hand, palm up, to the table. "Well, if that's the case, my lady, I must ask for a refund…"

"No—that's not all!" Mikata scooted back from the table and rose to her feet to pace behind the monk. Miroku listened to her heavy tread with a smirk that he was glad she couldn't see.

"Well then, what is—"

"I have a customer." She began, sighing, "He only comes in once every few months. This man works as a spy for Naraku. He applies himself to samurai lords, working for them and learning a few of their secrets—secrets he says Naraku knows only other humans can learn. Then he reports them to Naraku. That is how Naraku knows best where to hide, and when he wishes more land, he uses these secrets to his advantage and destroys the samurai lord. This man last visited me a week ago. He said something concerning Naraku's plans, but I thought them strange and inconsequential to you and your group until I heard Yakumi say she saw your companion—the half demon—with a woman in our streets…"

Miroku turned in his seat, trying to hide his confusion and at once battling his eagerness to simply _know_ whatever it was that troubled Mikata. "Yes, what young Lady Yakumi saw was Inuyasha trying to save Lady Kagome, the miko that travels with us. I've told you about her before."

Mikata nodded, staring directly at him. Her unwavering gaze unnerved Miroku, and uncertainly, he lowered his eyes, clearing his throat in the awkward silence as he waited for her to speak. At long last when she was still silent and motionless, he prompted her with, "What did this spy of Naraku's have to say?"

"He is a spy, Miroku. I cannot even trust that he is not trying to have me destroyed for Naraku. If this plot is true and you come to know of it and foil Naraku's plans, he'll know I've been in league with you…"

"I see." Miroku scowled, his tongue tasted bitter abruptly. "Perhaps you are being paranoid, Mikata. I mean no offence, but you are a woman in a brothel, not a mistress of a rich man. He likely unburdens his thoughts on you because he feels you are too foolish to understand them. I know that when you work with your clients you put on a performance, Mikata, a very, very good one, if I may say so myself…"

Mikata shook her head. "He knows it's only an act. I can tell. And he never calls on any of the other girls, and never gives me a reason why he favors me, never compliments me like the other men do even if they never mean it. It's strange. Any other man would…"

Though she appeared genuinely concerned, Miroku restrained a sigh. If there was one thing prostitutes knew how to get from any man, it was more money. Reluctantly, Miroku fished a hand into his robes and produced another pouch of currency. "Perhaps this will assure you of your safety?"

Mikata glanced over her shoulder at the proffered money and hesitated. Her fear was genuine, Miroku realized, but so was her love—and need—of money. Money was freedom, and freedom was all that the intelligent and beautiful Mikata thought of. In a quick motion she snatched the money in the pouch and tucked it away into her robe. Her jaw was squared fiercely when she lifted her eyes to him a moment later.

"Tell me about the half-demon you travel with. What's his name again? Dog-wind? Dog-spirit? And the miko woman, what about her? Are she and the demon—" Mikata choked on the words, her expression a mixture of bafflement, worry, and disgust. "Are they intimate?"

Miroku tried to cover his amusement by smoothing his robes. His staff jangled with his subtle movement. "I do not know that for certain, Mikata. Let me say that they share great emotion for one another. Why do you ask? You have never thought toask about my companions before." His brow creased with his gathering worry, "What did this spy say?'

"He said Naraku had a plot to destroy a certain half-demon that had been troubling him for many years, but it wouldn't involve weapons. It would be hinging on the half-demon's mate." She began to pace slowly, her arms crossed, her back to Miroku's stern face and tense position. "I wouldn't have remembered it at all except that I had a client once who was a demon exterminator. He told me a story of how he once killed a very aggressive male demon by killing its weaker female mate. He said that madness drove the creature to an easy death at his blade because its grief made it weak and sloppy in battle. He thought he was brilliant, I thought he was a heartless bastard."

"I have heard of this phenomenon a little myself." Miroku admitted, keeping his gaze locked on the floor, "But Lady Kagome and Inuyasha are not mates…"

He felt Mikata's gaze on him heavily, like a sack of bricks. "Not yet, you mean."

Grimly, pursing his lips, Miroku nodded. "They have loved each other for years, Mikata. If what you say is true, that will now be used against them." He sighed, frustrated. "How am I supposed to tell them to stay unattached to one another?"

"The spy seemed to think it was inevitable. He said Naraku knew how to push the half-breed's buttons and get him to respond just the way he wants…"

"Don't call him that."

Mikata blinked, taken aback. After an awkward silence she spoke, "What…? Have I caused offence somehow, Houshi-sama? I did not mean…"

"Never mind." Miroku waved a hand at her and rose stiffly to his feet. His staff jangled the whole way up. "I think I must be leaving. My…keeper will be sure to realize soon that I'm gone."

Mikata's eyebrows shot into her forehead like rockets. "Houshi-sama has a…keeper? I never would've thought such a thing!"

Wincing and turning his back on her, Miroku headed slowly for the door, unwilling to speak another word on the subject of his keeper. Mikata followed him, stepping in front of him to slide open the door. Miroku stopped her, placing one hand on her arm. She looked up at him with a perplexed expression, blinking as if the sun had caught in her eyes.

"You're sure this spy was telling the truth and speaking of my friends?"

Frowning deeply, Mikata turned back to the door and slid it wide open with a cracking sound. "What other half-breeds have caused Naraku so much trouble for so many long years?"

Behind her Miroku sighed and followed, stepping out into the hall. From the room next door a chorus of moans could be heard. Miroku stared at his feet as he walked by, determined not to let the sounds stir a response from his body…but Mikata's backsides, swaying in her robe seductively, were a temptation he couldn't resist.

The monk reached out his cursed right hand and hurriedly, as if fearing the inevitable slap as reprimand, and cupped Mikata's right butt cheek.

"Houshi-sama!" Mikata burst into girlish giggles, assuming her prostitute's act immediately. When she scampered a little ahead of him and glanced back teasingly over her shoulder, her cheeks weren't even the slightest bit pink.

Oddly Miroku felt no pleasure at this. The whole experience felt strangely empty without the sting of pain from one of Sango's slaps. _Yes, _he realized with a quiet but pleasant jolt, _who would have thought that Houshi-sama would have a keeper?_

But he couldn't doubt that it was reality, it was completely true.

* * *

_I said no, dammit! No means no!_

The hanyou scowled across the futon at the smirking miko. The twinkle of mischief was in both her warm brown eyes and inside her mind. It came across to him through the link as a sort of tickle that felt like bubbles foaming and caressing his soul. It made him want to grin like an idiot—but he refused to allow her to see they way her feelings could so easily sway his own.

The healer, Isha, was back in the room with his assistant, Maribi. They had insisted on giving Kagome a thorough examination before they even considered letting her get up even to go to the bathroom. Isha insisted that stress would send the girl into sickness—though she seemed perfectly healed from the toxins. Though the leg that had been bitten was still bruised and discolored, it seemed unlikely that Kagome would retain anything short of a few miniscule scars. Her fever had vanished, leaving her bathed with dried sweat. Her leg was caked with blood and the harsh herbs that still tingled her skin where Isha had applied them.

She wanted to take a bath, and she was begging the hanyou to take her for one…but Inuyasha was anything but willing. He agreed with the doctor and didn't care particularly if she smelled like sweat or herbs. In fact her sweat put his senses into a heightened state—likely her pheromones were teasing both his mind and body, bringing him to the very beginnings of desire. He ignored such reactions of course, and refused to give them thought. Instead he focused on being angry and irritated.

There were many, many reasons for him to be irritated, after all. There was the fact that Isha had come in that morning and discovered Inuyasha in a compromising position—curled around Kagome like a husband or a lover and sleeping like a dead man. Then he'd _woken_ Inuyasha and insisted that he leave Kagome alone while he examined her. That implied to the hanyou that there would be exposure involved, and the very possibility that the healer, another male, should even _consider_ viewing some private place on _his_ Kagome's body, made Inuyasha's blood boil. Kagome's assurance that nothing bad would happen hadn't eased his feelings on the matter at all.

In the end the examination was done with Inuyasha in the room, crouched on the other end of her futon, glaring between the miko, the healer, and the assistant Maribi.

"The recovery in your tissues is remarkable." Isha murmured, sounding as if he were actually talking about something dull and boring rather than a miraculous recovery. His hands gently poked and touched on her leg around the bite wound, but he watched her face for discomfort as he worked, searching for spots of pain.

With each wince from Kagome a growl erupted from Inuyasha, only to be choked off as the miko silenced him with a glare.

"Yes," Maribi agreed, and unlike Isha she did sound awed, "She should've died with such a bite and such terrible poison…"

"What was that?" Inuyasha snapped, eyeing her the way he might look at a poisonous insect that needed to be squashed.

"Oh, I was saying—" Maribi was interrupted when Kagome spoke up, clearing her throat loudly.

"You should just say it was nothing." She warned; eyes flicking nervously to the hanyou, whose stance, though he was still sitting and crouched, had tensed up significantly. There was a brief crack of knuckles being popped.

_Inuyasha! Would you stop it! They're going to think you're some kind of animal!_ She enforced the reprimand with a glare, but it was short lived as she changed subjects swiftly. _I really need that bath Inuyasha…_

_Feh! You'd better get used to that futon. You're not leaving it until I can't smell the venom anymore._

She scowled, a tinge of indignant anger spilled over from her mind to his. _I'm fine! I'm not a baby you know!_

Unaware of the silent conversation, Maribi and Isha continued to examine and prod Kagome's wound, speaking mostly to one another as they marveled over her recovery and tried to decide whether Kagome really could be freed from bed rest. At length Isha lifted his eyes to the distracted miko and cleared his throat, which did absolutely nothing to regain her attention. He began speaking anyway, hoping against hope.

"Uh, can you walk on this leg? If the muscle is still intact can it bear your body weight?"

_I said no! You're not getting a bath today, wench._ He curled his lip slightly, emphasizing the silent message.

_You can't tell me what to do, dog-boy!_ Inuyasha noted that there was only a small amount of real annoyance, though her facial expression lied and said otherwise.

_The hell I can't! If it weren't for me you woulda died that first time you ran into the centipede demon. I killed it, remember?_

Kagome's glare and mindset abruptly darkened. _And then you tried to kill me for the Shards…_

His ears—and his whole expression—drooped immediately. _Kagome…_

Isha touched Kagome's arm, drawing her attention sharply away from the hanyou. "Can you walk for me? Will your wounded leg bear weight?"

"Yeah, I think…" cautiously, Kagome started to push herself from the futon. Maribi and Isha stood with her, taking the hands she sent out to them seeking support. Inuyasha growled; ears lowered unhappily as he regarded the scene. He nearly leapt the space between himself and Kagome, grumbling the whole way.

"I'll do it, dammit! Get outta the way!" roughly, Inuyasha pushed away Maribi and Isha, only to move those same brusque, clawed hands a microsecond later to Kagome's side as transformed tools of careful, gentle, and controlled care.

The healer and Maribi watched, the healer looked on impassively, seeing only Kagome's legs and how they moved and how accurate her balance was. Maribi, meanwhile, held her hands before her face, hiding her satisfied smile.

"I can walk on my own Inuyasha." Kagome mumbled, trying feebly to disengage herself from the hanyou's guiding and supporting touch. She thrust her chin outward in a stubborn motion, taking two steps around the futon on her own power shakily. Inuyasha hovered over her, grumbling irritably like a frustrated mother hen.

_You're going to hurt yourself—stupid stubborn bitch!_

She wobbled briefly as she turned to throw him a meaningful glare. The silent exchange continued unabated.

_What is your problem, Inuyasha! _Hot tears tried without any real warning, to invade her eyes. She turned her face away from the hanyou, struggled to hide her emotions, though she could feel him pressing at her through the link. She stumbled and her legs collapsed underneath her, too weak after her recent ordeal to support her just yet. Inuyasha's strong, warm arms caught her, and in a moment, though she slapped futilely at his shoulders and hands, she found herself swaddled and held like a baby in the hanyou's lap. A few rocking jolts later and she sighed, staring up from the futon at Maribi and Isha, who were staring at her with tense, awkward expressions.

"Perhaps it is just a little too soon, just yet." Isha said, nodding once. His eyes were pointed at Inuyasha, not Kagome. "I trust you will be her primary caretaker in her recovery?"

Snorting, Inuyasha didn't even bother answering the old healer, but Kagome felt his arms and his hands squeeze her tighter, more protectively. Again, though she wasn't sure just why, she felt the press of tears in her eyes. What was wrong with Inuyasha holding her? Why did she feel as if she should be angry with him for something he'd done or said…?

A memory floated up to her through the maze of her mind, so recently clouded by pain and illness. It as Inuyasha's voice broadcast through their link: '_Do you think I care? I don't. You want to leave? Then fucking leave!'_

She stiffened, a mixture of pain and confusion rippling over her. Maribi and Isha left, but she hardly noticed their departures. Only the slap of the door sliding shut made Kagome realize that she was once again alone with the hanyou. She swallowed the lump in her throat, restrained the sigh, and forced the memory away. Inuyasha had spoken rashly, and she knew it was anything but true. His arms around her were proof enough. They were always fighting, always running away from the truth. Why should she battle with him when she could feel his devotion? Why should she strike up an argument and bring herself down when she could remember the previous night, while in the midst of her sickness Kikyo had come and Inuyasha had—he'd said…

It returned to her, hazy like a dream, the hanyou's words to her just before Kikyo had left the world once and for all, letting her soul rejoin and complete Kagome's. She could see in his eyes, in his face, a warmth and depth that she'd seen only rarely before. Inuyasha, so stiff and awkward when it came to his own feelings, for once revealed his heart, shining out to her that night.

"_I choose Kagome."_ His words still echoed in her mind, like a dream come true. She felt, for a moment, that perhaps she had in fact dreamed it all in some feverish delirium. Uncertainly she wriggled her fingers once, touching first her own skin and then Inuyasha's robes. She reached for his mind tentatively, calling his name.

_Inuyasha…?_

Suddenly she felt Inuyasha's hot breath on her scalp, climbing steadily downwards to her ear and her neck. She couldn't resist the shudder of pleasure that passed through her body in response to his warm, moist breath and his close proximity. His thoughts floated to her by way of the link.

_I knew you didn't need any damned-stupid bath. Just stay here, you're still sick. Poor weak-bodied human after all…_

Kagome realized with a jolt that despite his façade of gruff feelings and frustration, Inuyasha was deeply troubled. Only seconds ago she'd wanted to ask him about the night before, to compare her memories to his. But now she realized that her hanyou was in the wrong mood for it. Something was troubling him, deep inside. She reached, searching for the reason, but caught only images that were scattered and faint, wisps and impressions of what might have been dream or memory, there was no way to tell them apart.

_Inuyasha…?_ She fed him her concern, letting him see how worried she was about him, but Inuyasha's mind shied away even as his arms tightened around her.

_Go to sleep Kagome, rest. I'll protect you._

She spoke aloud, "But—"

_I said no baths, wench! Don't you ask me again!_

Forcing her way over his thoughts, Kagome interrupted his spiel of haughty irritation, finally interjecting her question. _What's upsetting you so much, Inuyasha? _

_That you won't sleep like I tell you to, stupid woman!_

"Jerk." Reluctantly, Kagome burrowed her face into the comfort of his fire rat robes, sighing wearily as her body became steadily heavier with the progression sleep takes over the mind. In a moment she was breathing deeply and regularly, fast asleep inside the circle of Inuyasha's arms.

As her mind faded and the connection between their minds fuzzed over, sending only the lightest impressions of warmth and comfort, Inuyasha finally relaxed and let his eyes drop down to the sleeping girl, cradled against his chest. Slowly, with infinite gentleness he touched her hair, and then her cheeks, her closed eyes, lips and chin. The warmth in her smooth skin was relief and assurance, but also a stark reminder of what he'd almost lost forever.

He'd felt her thoughts as they went from remembering his horrible words that had forced her away to be bitten by the snake demon in the first place and then to her hazy, feverish memories of the events that had saved her from the venom. But he didn't want her to trouble herself over it, and he didn't want to face the realities of it himself. There could be no doubt any longer. She was his mate, his responsibility, his lover, his second-half. Watching her suffer had taken a lot out of him, and it was a terrible reminder that she was mortal. She would die before him, simply because her biology—her cells and her very genes themselves—dictated it. Facing the possibility of her death, and of living without her in his life, Inuyasha could hardly breathe.

_Weak-bodied human…_his thoughts tortured him, taunted him. Kagome would die someday, long before him. Even now, in her prime as a young woman, she was frail in the face of the many dangers she faced daily. He would protect her from everything he could, but he could never protect her from time. It was the one enemy that had always taken her from him. Sometimes it had simply been the well that had taken her away, through time, but now it was time that sealed her away from the safety of the future and her family, and time that would one day destroy her and leave him alone.

And yet he couldn't lie to her or to himself or to anyone or anything else ever again. It was in everything he did, everything he said. They were mates and there was no longer a way to deny it.

The hanyou settled his cheek atop Kagome's head, sighing and slowly closing his eyes, shutting out the world around him. All of his worries would just have to wait until Kagome was strong again, strong and rested…and then, just maybe, he could make her happy…

Even if he could never find a way to get her back to her family in the future.

* * *

That's all I got for now guys...later! 


	22. Desire

**Disc:** Nope not me

**A/n:** I have little time, got to get to bed. But I think I'm actually proud of this one guys. Yeah! Go me! Update! Mrs. H is in this one too...and Kagome Keshikaran. Anyway, I hope this satisfies...I thoroughly enjoyed writing it. Only thing I gotta say really is **Potty mouth**Inuyasha is a little crazy here. That's all I gotta say.

**

* * *

Desire**

"Where have you been?"

Miroku lifted his eyes to Sango once and tried to feign an innocent face for her benefit, but the sight of her, standing in her pink and green kimono and skirts with her hands on her hips and her eyes alight with suspicion, it was too much. A grin broke over his face only to be smothered immediately. "What ever do you mean, my Sango? I was merely…"

"You're such a liar Houshi-sama." She turned away from him stiffly, apparently looking at him made her sick because she shook, struggling to regain control. "We passed that brothel earlier; I saw how you looked at it. Kagome's sick, Inuyasha's gone, and Shippo's heartbroken and all you can think about is—"

"It was nothing like that at all Sango!" he stepped forward, suddenly urgent. The cursed right hand reached out and met her shoulder, completely ignoring its usual target much further south on her body. "I was—"

"She isn't going to believe you." Shippo murmured from a nearby tree branch. His green eyes were dull; he wasn't even looking in the monk's direction. There were dark circles under his eyes, remnants of his sobbing fits from the day and night before. Kagome had survived the night, so the healer Isha and his helper, Maribi, had informed them early in the wee hours of the morning. Only then had Shippo become responsive again. Before that moment the kit had proven completely inconsolable. He now seemed to be in a state of recovery, slowly accepting that his adoptive mother and favorite caretaker wasn't going to die after all.

For several hours the four of them, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, and Kilala, had all waited in the gardens that Isha's house of healing offered for such friends and family. It was late evening, with the darkness settling over the sweet-smelling grasses and fragrant blooming bushes of the gardens like a coat of gray paint. The gardens were well groomed and cared for, a sure sign that the village that owned it was prosperous as well. Another sign, of course, was the town's little, but thriving brothel. On both of the Shard-hunter's visits to the town Miroku had disappeared for an hour or so and returned each time to Sango's suspicion. Now there was added weight to Sango's anger with the stress of Kagome's illness.

"I was visiting an ally I have in the brothel—"

Sango whirled to face him, "Is that what you call it? Visiting? Allies?" her fists were balled up and shaking, as if she planned to beat him. "You disgust me!"

"No." Miroku tried to level her with a stern, serious stare. It was hard to do. He remembered reaching out to touch Mikata's backsides and finding such little pleasure in it. He remembered her incredulity on his words _"I have a keeper."_ But it was true, and he did, and he was thoroughly infatuated with the demon slayer, though he knew she would never believe him. "You misunderstand me, Lady Sango."

Sango glared at him, unimpressed. "I wish I did, Houshi-sama."

"Sango, wait, _listen_ to me." Miroku sighed, shifting his jangling staff uncertainly as he tried vainly to regain Sango's attention and respect—if he'd ever really had it at all. "I was visiting a spy in the brothel. She travels all around this country and I've learned that she almost always hears tale of what Naraku is up to."

Sango's back was to him, though her head was turned slightly, exposing one ear and indicating to the monk that she was indeed listening. Yet the question came from Shippo in the tree rather than Sango. "What did she say?"

Miroku pursed his lips. "She's heard of a plan Naraku has to—"

Midway through the monk's words the door to the gardens clattered on its track as it slid open, revealing a smiling Maribi. Shippo immediately jumped down from his perch in the tree and leapt onto Miroku's shoulder to be closer to the door. Kilala mewed to summon Sango to pick her up. They watched the healer's helper half-bow at the entrance to the gardens, still smiling. "You were waiting for news of the girl named Kagome?"

"Yes." Miroku answered, giving a slight bow of his own in return. On his shoulder Shippo fidgeted for a moment and then lifted his own voice. "I know she's okay—I can smell her! Tell her Shippo is here and—"

Shippo's words were cut short when Miroku clamped a hand over the kitsune's mouth. Maribi in the doorway smiled pleasantly, though it was clear that the fox demon did make her slightly uncomfortable. She bowed again. "I am pleased to report that she has recovered incredibly since last night. The demon is with her, but he refuses to let many in to see her."

"That jerk!" Shippo grumbled and jumped down from Miroku's shoulder, rushing toward the door. Maribi blinked and moved away swiftly, as if Shippo were a mouse and she was a terrified housewife.

"Shippo!" Sango hurried after him, Kilala in her arms looking startled. Shaking his head, and with a final apologetic look toward Maribi, Miroku followed them, his staff jangling away.

Around several winding corridors, the kit hurried, hind paws scrabbling and scratching on the hard floors. He reached the foot of some stairs and found himself staring up at Isha, who blinked down at the kit with wide, bland eyes. Shippo ignored the healer after a second—when he heard Sango coming up behind him and calling out his name—and rushed up the stairs, taking them in leaps and bounds. He followed his nose straight to the last door in the narrow hallway, bumping into the closed screen face first.

"Kagome!" he shouted at the screen, "Kagome, are you awake?" there were shuffling sounds from inside the room; a low growl that he knew immediately was Inuyasha's. Frantically, the kit started jumping toward the latch on the screen, unhooking it and then trying to pull at the bottom to get it open. The screen shivered and shook, starting to give way and Shippo dug at it more energetically, feeling himself right at the edge of success…

The screen moved on its own then, slamming wide open and smashing Shippo and his delicate fox fingers against the opposite side of the doorway.

"You runt." Inuyasha snarled above him, and a second later the hanyou's foot swished through the air, knocking him away across the floor back in the direction of the stairs. The world spun before the kit's vision, but he was a strong, feisty youth and he recovered from the blow swiftly. Righting himself the first thing he noticed was that Inuyasha was disheveled and messy. His haori was wrinkled and not properly secured; his eyes were heavy as if with fatigue, his silver hair was even wilder than usual.

"I wanna see Kagome! You can't stop me Inuyasha!" he leapt toward the door again, only to be stopped by the hanyou's foot again. For the second time he met up with the wall and groaned, holding his head with dizziness. As his senses cleared again he noticed that Inuyasha carried a heavy odor with him, one that, though he was still a child he still recognized.

He wrinkled up his nose. "Inuyasha!"

From inside the room Kagome cleared her throat. "Inuyasha," her voice was raspy, but it made the kit's heart take off wildly in flight nonetheless, "Let him in."

"Not a chance!" Inuyasha hollered back. His white ears folded backwards, his mouth quirked downwards. Shippo sensed the silent communication between them, Kagome and Inuyasha. He hesitated with his demand to see Kagome—the change between the hanyou and his adoptive mother was powerful and vast. They were mates. Inuyasha was the brooding protector, Kagome was the cheerful mediator. They exuded wholeness, even when they appeared to be battling one another.

"Shippo you can come in here…"

"No he can't!" Inuyasha jerked his gaze from the offending kit to Kagome and scowled. "Kagome, don't try to get up, you'll—" he cut himself off and disappeared into the room to hover over her.

Shippo continued to hesitate, sniffing the air a few times to further educate himself. The stench of old herbs lingered in the hall, as did the stink of venom. Kagome smelled of fading sickness and old sweat, Inuyasha of worry and fear. Yet below it he could smell the pheromones easily enough. Even the couple's bodies knew things had changed, and their scents had modified slightly to reflect it.

Sango had stopped just behind the kit, Kilala mewed in her arms. Creeping slowly up the stairs behind them was Miroku. His staff jangled musically, giving his presence and his every move away. He paused, peeking over the banister at the edge of the stairs to see what was happening. Sango threw him a quick glare, a silent reminder that their drama continued despite the interruption. Miroku ignored her—or at least he pretended to.

The hanyou stepped out of the room again, though his ears were flicking about wildly, listening to Kagome still. He saw all of them and sighed, though the sound turned into a growl midway through. "I told that bitch not to let you in yet." He grumbled.

"And I told her I wouldn't mind." Kagome scolded from beyond.

Inuyasha turned away from them to glare at her again, his golden eyes narrowed and promising punishment. His voice rumbled, deep and thick. He gave each word a meaning of its own, a sentence of its own. "You. Are. Still. Sick."

"I'm fine."

"You can't even walk yet." The hanyou shot back. There was a thump inside the room and a panicked look took over Inuyasha's face. "No, wench, get back down—" he disappeared into the room again.

In the relative silence of the hallway, Sango's shoulders started to shake. In her arms Kilala mewed questioningly. But only a second later the demon slayer burst out laughing. She let Kilala go so she could cover her grin with one hand and hold her stomach with the other. Miroku lowered his face, trying to hide his own reaction—something between uncertainty and amusement.

Shippo looked between Sango and Miroku and finally to Kilala, still a little perplexed though his nose told him the clearest story of all. He sighed. "Now they'll _never_ stop fighting."

Kilala mewed once in agreement.

* * *

I don't really know how it happened, but just after Souta kissed me on the cheek goodbye and left for his date with his own Keshikaran woman, Kari, I managed to fall asleep. I had planned to take a shower and wear something pretty, something befitting of the mother of Shippo's rescuer. Instead I sat down in the armchair beside the window and watched Souta walk off the Shrine grounds, probably whistling like his father, Toshi used to when we were dating…

I sat in that chair and got to thinking, got to wondering about my lost daughter, about her half-demon and the Keshikarans…and Shippo. I hadn't the slightest idea what Shippo might be doing with his life as a demon in the modern-day era, or rather, what he was pretending to do with a human life. I tried to estimate his age—more than 500 years surely? How does a creature with that sort of lifespan fit into our society…?

And then I was asleep.

The doorbell woke me. I wasn't groggy at all, but I knew I had to look like a frazzled old woman—I'd been drooling into one hand, I'm sure my old wedding ring must've bitten into my cheek and left nasty marks. My hair was a mess already from the wind earlier in the day when I'd been outside, tending to some of the gardens around the Shrine.

I knew all of this when the doorbell rang and I was jolted awake, but there would be no postponing this meeting, this event. I'd been waiting years and I didn't care suddenly how I looked when I met any of them.

Nothing was going to stop me from finding out what had happened to my firstborn baby, my only little girl.

When I opened up the door Kagome Keshikaran was standing with her hands clasped behind her back, smiling up at the bleak, blackening sky. She'd traded in her Burger King uniform somewhere along the line for a white shirt and a bright red skirt. Except for her red-highlighted hair she could've almost passed for my Kagome. I fought the frown on my face at the thought.

"Are you ready for my grandfather?" she chimed, sneaking a peak at me from the corners of her eyes.

There were times, I realized, with a jolt, that her inhumanness was glaringly obvious. Now was one of those times. She _looked_ like a fox.

"I'm ready."

"Good." She turned around, as if to start out, but stopped and craned her neck around to look at me with one eye and ask, sweetly, "You don't mind if we walk do you?"

"No."

She grinned, and I thought I caught the glint of canines again, "Good. The moon is beautiful tonight."

"But it's cloudy, or at least, it was earlier—"

"Oh, it is." She was grinning, I could hear it in her voice, "Your human eyes can't make it out quite like mine can. I can see its halo better, I like the light."

I could only shake my head as I set out behind her, locking the door behind me and slapping my pockets to make sure that I had in fact remembered to bring the keys with me. (A/N: I locked myself out of my car twice the first semester of college. -X I tell you, I always check my pockets now.)

For a long time I followed her, half at her side, half falling behind. There were so many things I wanted to ask her, so many things I wanted to know, that they competed within me, battling to escape. It seemed impossible for me to settle on just one at one time. But with each moment that there passed silence between us I mourned a little more than the last. Anymore and I was sure I would explode.

The streets were still busy this early, and Kagome Keshikaran surprised me by taking a few back alleyways that frightened me. We passed business men and joggers, shopping housewives and teenagers, old men still wearing kimonos. A bus full of tourists raced by us with white foreigners screaming in their many different languages. Cell phones rang, lights winked on around us, neon lights flashed up ahead. Bicyclists breezed by us, seemingly only inches away from hitting us. I watched Kagome Keshikaran wince when a few cars broke out, blaring their horns.

I was aware, and uncomfortable, of the obvious fact that Kagome Keshikaran and I were nothing but women, walking the streets just after dark. There are dangerous people out after dark and even in the daytime, I used to tell my children. Souta liked to brag that he would protect Kagome and I, but I know when he was alone he wouldn't have taken unnecessary risks. He was never one to pick a fight, never one to knowingly cause another pain. My Kagome used to listen to me solemnly, but I think I could always see in her eyes, shining through, this quiet doubt. I don't think she ever fully accepted that there are truly evil people in this world of ours.

The Feudal Era didn't help her either—after her stories of Naraku she believed in evil, yes, but the evil ones were obvious. They breathed poison and laughed at death. Monsters with terrible swords and lightning bolts slaughtered innocent humans. Humans were just that: human.

We turned away from the lights of the city, taking a side-road into some small rolling hills, the edge of an estate of some sort. The night was brisk, chilly. I might've been cold if not for the fact that I'd been walking for at least an hour already.

I glanced up at the sky, remembering Kagome Keshikaran's words about it. The halo of the moon through the clouds was gray, ghostly—thin. A fox would find the difficult, dim light a beautiful thing, I suppose. Nocturnal, sneaky creatures in myth…I wondered what Shippo looked like after five hundred years of growth and life. Was he old and gray now? Or would he still be young, robust, and healthy? Obviously he could no longer be the tiny little child that my Kagome described so many years ago.

The thoughts finally burst out of me. "W…what does your grandfather do with himself?"

She laughed, loudly. "Do with himself?" she shook her head, caught my timid gaze with twinkling eyes. "He manages the Byakko family, I guess. He's also close with the rest of them…" she shrugged, letting her voice fade.

"Byakko is Shippo's family name? Did he have any sons?"

"Yes and yes." Kagome Keshikaran turned suddenly off the lighted path we'd been following and toward the brush and foliage on the side of the road. She walked in a peculiar zigzag path that I only halfheartedly tried to follow since it seemed clear that she was just trying to get into the brush. I was too confused to ask her why she acted the way she did, but luckily she peeked back at me, grinningly, and explained, "If you walk in a straight line it'll leave a trail. Grandpa wants this to stay a family secret."

"Okay…" I tried to keep up with her once we got into the brush but she was fast and already familiar with the way. We came up on a wall, perhaps ten or more feet high and crisscrossed with electric wire at the top. I squinted at it through the dark, baffled. Kagome Keshikaran moved away from me, toward a massive tree with draping, willowy branches. A few of the branches rose clear up and over the wall and its electric wiring. The other trees that might've spanned the gap had been trimmed back; I could see the cropped branches lying about at the foot of the wall. Every tree was cropped but the one that Kagome Keshikaran had led me to.

She stood underneath it and looked back at me. "Lady Higurashi?"

I wasn't sure how to respond to such a title. The only thing that kept going through my mind was that one tree left uncut was not an accident. Kagome Keshikaran's knowledge of it was not an accident. But the wall's construction and electric fencing were anything but accidental too.

"We're breaking in?" there was a squeaking sound in my voice, pure shock.

"No, we're invited. This is Grandpa Shippo's estate. Cool eh?" I saw her white grin flash in the gray light. She pointed upward to the tree's branches. "Can you manage it?"

I found myself shaking my head, "It's so high up…there's _electricity…"_

Kagome Keshikaran snorted once, amusedly, and then leapt straight up into the air like a cat to catch one of the highest branches. I stared at her, dumbstruck. My jaw must've fallen open for sure, but I was so shocked that I didn't even notice. I watched her crawl, my heart in my throat, pulsing away, along one branch that extended up and over the wall. At the point directly over the electric wire she paused and called out to me. "Would you like me to carry you?"

Dizziness swept over me, I tried to calm my pounding heart. All the things my Kagome talked about, the wild feats…I suppose I clung to what I thought of as reality all along. Her stories were a curiosity, a clever, wild tale. They weren't my reality.

My Kagome saw things like this Keshikaran woman every single day of her life from her first trip down the well and on. I had never quite understood it until now.

I struggled to breathe, struggled to bring the world back to me. I had to get to Shippo Byakko. I had to learn what had happened to my little girl.

_The things she saw. The things she must've done…_

_You never even really knew her at all. _

There was a thump a moment later and I heard Kagome Keshikaran's voice shouting to me. "Are you alright? Lady Higurashi? Kira?"

I forced my knees to stop shaking like Jello. "I'm fine…if it's no trouble, could I ask you to carry me over that wall?"

She was grinning again. "It's not a problem at all."

* * *

"You know…" Kagome sighed and let her check fall against the back of Inuyasha's shoulders resignedly. "If I never use my legs again, I'll just go lame."

Inuyasha made no comment, only paused slightly in his step to hike her a little higher on his back, easing his burden. He focused his eyes and his thoughts on the road ahead and behind them. Thinking too much about Kagome's proximity, about the way her breath felt against his hair, his neck, his ears…it left his body itchy and tingly. He wanted a bath, some rest. He wanted to be away from her and at the same time he wanted to be even closer to her—and _alone_.

Shippo joined Kagome's cause quickly, probably because the little runt wanted to use her as a ride and not Miroku. "Yeah Inuyasha! Let Kagome walk on her own. You haven't stopped hanging on her since…"

The kit's voice died away and no one answered him, silently knowing that he was fighting his own memories, the thought that Kagome might die of snake demon venom. She nearly had and Shippo and the others generally didn't understand how she'd managed to recover so completely.

Inuyasha finally broke the silence by growling. "Quit your babbling Shippo."

"Don't be so mean." She flicked one of his ears in reprimand and seemingly failed to notice the shiver that passed through the hanyou's body in response. She was too busy yelling back to Shippo, inviting him to roost on her shoulder.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Kagome." Miroku pursed his lips, "I think Inuyasha isn't in the best mood right now…"

"Shut the hell up!" Inuyasha cursed the monk inwardly, wondering how a mortal could read him so well.

"You don't mind Shippo, do you?" Kagome nudged one of his ears then, gently. At the same moment she also touched on their link, cautiously probing his mind. _He misses me, Inuyasha. I…I almost died…_

He was glad she couldn't see his face at that moment. Something between her reminder that she'd so nearly died because of his stupidity, and her touch of both his ear in the physical world and their link in the psychological wavelength sent his blood boiling. He couldn't understand the urgency, didn't know where it came from or why, and wished fervently that it'd go away. But for two days now, since they'd begun to travel again after Kagome's illness, Inuyasha had been fighting something within himself.

And it was a steadily losing battle.

The hanyou tightened his grip around her thighs, feeling her body heat through his own clothing. She'd stopped wearing her tiny skirt, one small mercy on the hanyou. The stink of the uniform was too much for Kagome to go on wearing, and the blood, dirt, and venom stains on it were more than any washerwoman wanted to deal with. Since leaving the house of healing and Isha's care there she'd taken a few of Maribi's spare kimonos. They were simple things, made of a cotton-like material, lighter than silk and far less comfortable but cheaper and easier to wash. Much longer than her skirt, they covered over her thighs, sparing Inuyasha the feeling of her skin on his hands while he carried her.

But he wanted to feel that skin, despite himself. He squeezed his eyes shut, struggled to refocus on the real world around him.

Kagome caught wind of a few of his thoughts, sensing a few hints of his trouble, the inner struggle that was going on underneath his skin. His control on the link had diminished greatly since her illness. He could no longer fully close himself off from her; he could only keep his innermost, private thoughts away from her and the link. Otherwise Kagome could pretty much walk right through and over his thoughts.

And they both knew she loved it.

Politely she skirted away from his mind, leaving him with privacy. He worshipped her silently for it, only to hear her make a gasping sound as he realized his clawed fingers had slipped under the edges of her new kimono to grasp bare skin. "Ow, Inuyasha…"

Embarrassed at actions that hardly felt like his own, Inuyasha dropped her legs and mumbled, refusing to look her in the eye. "I guess you can walk, wench."

He treaded on ahead a few steps, listening to the others behind him absorb Kagome into their midst. Shippo started chattering right away into Kagome's ear. Miroku said something that earned a slap from Sango.

But through their link Inuyasha knew Kagome was distracted, detached from their friends. She was thinking about him, and she was curious—and somewhere within her too, she was battling herself the same as he.

* * *

"Kagura." Naraku nearly purred her name, "What is the moon like outside?"

For a moment Kagura looked up from her fan toward the darkened screen where her master was sitting silently, passing away the hours brooding on his many enemies and devious plots. Had he really asked about the moon? Did he understand that it was nearly impossible to see the moon through all of his murky miasma?

She snapped her fan closed. "I can't see it."

"Guess, Kagura." She heard him draw in a long, slow breath, "Is it nearly full?"

"I think it might be." She chewed one side of her mouth, considering Naraku, wondering exactly which plot of his involved the moon…the hanyou, Inuyasha, when was his weakest point? She was sure she knew it but she'd never breathe a word to Naraku unless he tore it out of her. If Inuyasha could kill Naraku it would set her free…

Naraku didn't answer verbally, but instead he made a low noise of pleasure in his throat. Kagura rolled her eyes and stepped away, into the gloomy, gray courtyard. She squinted up at the clouds, blackened like soot from inside a chimney by her master's miasma. From back inside the room she heard Naraku mutter to himself, like a child in its sleep.

"Soon now, soon…"

* * *

"I'm going for a—"

"No you're not." Inuyasha snapped, interrupting Kagome. They narrowed their eyes at one another across the fire, expressions full of danger.

Shippo sighed as he swallowed the last of his fish. "Can't you two stop fighting for five minutes?" he looked between the hanyou and the miko, miserably.

"Yes, it is growing tiresome." Miroku didn't even open his eyes as he spoke. He looked as if he were suffering from a migraine. Sango, at his side, looked as if she'd shut off her brain just to avoid hearing the meaningless bickering. "You didn't even let Kagome finish before you told her she couldn't do it, Inuyasha. Don't you think that's a little much?"

"I know what she was going to say, moron!" the hanyou snorted and tapped the stick his fish was speared with as his eyes jumped between Miroku, Sango, Kilala, Shippo and finally across the fire to Kagome. She responded to his gaze with a narrowing of the eyes, a small quirk of her mouth. Inuyasha pointed a claw at her, "You better eat that fish wench."

"Why, do _you want it?"_ her eyebrows shot up as she stuck out her own fish of its charred stick.

Inuyasha moved once, as if to take it or push it back, but then paused. His face twitched once and then his ears. Finally he settled again and turned his gaze away from the schoolgirl with a hearty, "Feh."

On the surface the bickering looked like exactly that—fighting. Petty squabbling as if the hanyou and the miko were back to square one. And frankly Miroku and Sango couldn't really tell this fighting apart from any other behavior the couple shared. The two demons of the group, however, understood that most of what was happening was going on where no one else could hear it or understand it.

…and it wasn't fighting. It was taunting. It was a mating game.

Shippo growled to himself, irritated at the silent game, and eyed Inuyasha's as yet uneaten fish. It was just sitting there, steaming on its stick, getting cold while the hanyou stared at Kagome and then looked away and fidgeted continuously. The kitsune decided to make his move.

With a shout he leapt at Inuyasha's hand and grabbed at the speared fish. Inuyasha, caught off guard, let the fish slip easily from his hand. A second later he was cursing and swearing up one side and down the other, chasing the kit around the fire.

Sango and Miroku lifted their faces to the show and their expressions lightened. "This is more like it, wouldn't you agree my Sango?"

The demon slayer threw him a sneaky look and then fixed her eyes again on Inuyasha's futile chase.

"Give me that back you stupid runt! I'll pound your little face in! Hold still you—"

Kagome moved quietly over to where Sango, Kilala, and Miroku were sitting and whispered, "I'm going to try to take a bath—could you try and keep Inuyasha distracted here at camp?"

"Yes, hurry!" Sango grabbed at Kagome's pack, picking out the shampoos a few articles of clothing from it. "This is the only time he'll let you away for sure."

"Oh, come now Kagome, Sango. Why not let him go with you to bathe? I'm sure he'd like it—" Miroku choked on his words when Sango elbowed him in the stomach.

"Hetai!" she hissed, "Keep those thoughts to yourself—or better yet, don't have them at all."

"Sango! How could you suggest…"

"Yeah, I know, that's impossible for you isn't it?"

"Why Lady Sango, I…"

Their voices faded away from her ears as Kagome headed away hurriedly, trying to hide her missing presence from the ever-watchful hanyou. The warm orange glow from the fire died away as she slipped onto a small path that Sango had used earlier to get to the little rocky river and bathe before the sun had gone down. Kagome had tried to go then to bathe as well, but Inuyasha hadn't let her out of his sight. He'd even refused to do the fishing this time around, insisting that Miroku do it instead. Fishing was normally an activity he prided himself on. Hunting came naturally to a man who was even only part demon.

Reeds rose up around her, as high as her waist. She could smell the water, sweet and cool. She was thirsty after her fish; Miroku's seemed stringy and less satisfying somehow than Inuyasha's usual catch.

She set her usual night clothes on the river's edge, on the smooth grass growing there, and waded into the river a little until she found a nice rock that worked as a place to store her shampoos and lotions for the time being. The water was chilly, setting her skin awash in goose bumps and shivers, but as many, many baths in the Feudal Era had forced on her, Kagome adjusted swiftly.

Just as she began tugging on the simple sash securing her kimono—she'd chosen green out of nostalgia for her school uniform—she halted, fingers freezing mid-motion. Inuyasha's mind stirred within their link, reaching out and probing her mind. The distraction at camp had given out, but she'd expected that. This far into the bath she doubted that Inuyasha would stop her.

Her fingers moved with greater haste then, tugging off the sash, tossing it aside. She slipped off the kimono and paused long enough to arrange the sash and the kimono so that she would pick them up in the right order. When she came out of the river she would be cold and her fingers likely numb. She'd learned that numb fingers were clumsy while tying knots and buttoning things. It was best to think ahead.

There was a sound behind her, thudding footsteps. Kagome ducked, trying to hide herself and continue undressing at the same time. But it was too late; she'd never make it to the water in time…

She grabbed up the kimono again and wrapped it around her to preserve her modesty just as Inuyasha burst onto the scene. As he took her in she couldn't help but smirk at the reaction within his mind. She knew the power she seemed to hold over him lately, of how it's been growing. He held a similar sway over her, but it wasn't like Kagome to follow him around just before he bathed.

"Sorry." His mind skipped around confusedly inside their link. Kagome tried to control her amusement as the hanyou turned his back on her, ears flicking. "Put your clothes on Kagome." His voice sounded a little too husky, "You're not taking a bath tonight. You don't need it."

"How would you know?" she snapped, "I feel like I do need it." _I never stop you from bathing._ She shot at him through the link.

_I don't need protecting like you do._ "You don't need it." He grumbled, shifting uneasily on all fours, his back still facing her.

Kagome frowned. "I do need it." _I don't need you hovering over me all the time._

"Dammit you don't need the fucking bath!" he whirled round to face her, eyes wide and wild like an animal. _And you'd better get used to me. I ain't goin anywhere._

Kagome's body tensed a little on her, her heart beat a little faster. "I'm going to take one. If you want to stay here then fine, whatever. I stink, I need the bath." She could feel him twitch in the link, quietly going crazy, about to lose control. _You can stay, but if I catch you watching me naked I'll be angry._

They both knew her silent words were a lie. What might've been a warning was actually an invitation…

Inuyasha growled, low and guttural. His eyes were alight and feral. "You smell fucking fine!" _You're mine!_

She was about to retort but the hanyou pounced and suddenly she was pinned beneath him, listening to his frantic breathing puffing in and out, his heart racing and pumping away. The outside world blurred completely.

His lips were on her face, on her neck, fast, hot to her skin, desperate. She felt his teeth, his fangs, nipping at her skin. Instinct she hadn't known she possessed compelled her. She followed the link, using it to her advantage. A few fingertips raced up and down his spine and the hanyou was mad with desire, absolutely on fire. She tasted the inside of his mouth, still fishy from their meal.

It was surreal, a dream, a fantasy. But his skin, the link, his heart pounding away and his breath caressing her face and neck, that was all real. It felt real. The need and want were both real. She felt them too, just as much as Inuyasha did, more than she'd ever imagined it was possible.

His claws tickled and teased at her skin, he attacked her earlobes with his mouth. He smelled her and tasted her, searching over her for the places that made her gasp, made her choke, that reminded them both that they were alive and together. She returned it in like kind, her fingers searching out his bare skin to caress it and wonder at the surprisingly smooth surfaces he had to offer her, and at how remarkable he was—her hanyou. Her mate.

He gripped her then, pulling her against him. Her mind buzzed with a mixture of excitement and shock as she realized that he was digging at her kimono, pulling it off her. And her fingers, almost of their own separate will, were working at loosening his haori and his hakama (AHH! Is that the right term for his pants?). A few questions of uncertainty popped into her head, wondering if what was happening was right—but most of her, body, heart, and sould didn't think twice.

She wanted, she needed. Too many years without him, too many years wondering if he would be hers or Kikyo's. Too many years of being saved but feeling unwanted and unsatisfied. They were too volatile to last any longer…

"Inuyasha? Kagome?" It was Miroku's voice, rising out of the gloom, like a nightmare incepting their little sliver of heaven.

Inuyasha pulled partly away from Kagome. A growl started up low in his chest. "I hate that stupid…" his voice was heavy, slurred.

He started to get up, pulling away from Kagome, but the miko held tight to his arms, making a tiny sound in her throat, a whimpering that she barely recognized as her own. "Send him away." _Stay with me._

The hanyou stared down at her with wide, bright eyes. He battled within himself briefly, desire fighting the embarrassment of being caught. He looked toward the moon, bright, huge and round…

He looked back in the direction of the camp and heard Sango's footsteps with Miroku's. The jangling of the monk's staff changed. Inuyasha heard their voice murmuring quietly in the distance. Sango was convincing the monk to head back, to leave the couple alone. After a moment he heard the sounds of Miroku's staff come again, only this time they were fading, heading back up the winding path toward camp.

Kagome tugged on his arm again. Her warm brown eyes were shining with desire, her side of the link pulsed with it. _Inuyasha…_

The hanyou could no longer resist.

* * *


	23. Mating Season

**A/N: **Oh yeah you guys gotta be excited about this one just b/c of the title eh? I hope I don't disappoint...it took me a long time to do it right. Crunch time end of the semester. But today I just felt like writing so I sat down and did it...that and you guys have been hounding me, very nicely may I add. So I rewarded. I know, WOAWO still needs to be done, but that one I'm actually still working out a few intricacies with who is going to die and how and who kills who and such...Anyway...

This chapter: Mrs. H made me nearly cry writing her. Sango, Miroku, Shippo and Kilala in this beginning just spilled out of me a mile a minute a month ago when I wrote it, and the last part was written in 2 parts, one a month ago, the other (end) part a few minutes ago. Like I said, I hope I got it right...as always I am listening for you guys and hoping I please. Love to hear from you very soon.**P.S.** uhh I feel compelled to say that the last part is mildly kinda naughty, well maybe not, I dunno. You guys are the judge. Oh other compulsory note: Men I don't view you as out of control or anything like that, don't be offended. But I had to like figure out how to write the mating season bit, I mean I have Myoga say that IY will be compelled to mate now that he has one in his sights, and although it sorta happened last chapter...I didn't think I covered the "compelling" part of it enough. So...how will our lovebirds deal with this one eh?

**Disclaimer: **Nope I have never owned Inuyasha

**

* * *

Mating Season**

Miroku shook his head, pursed his lips. "Sango, we should stop them—"

"Why?" her voice was sharp, critical, "Are you jealous? Or do you want Inuyasha to kill you?" she sighed, sounding almost tired, "Leave them be. They've loved each other for years—besides, demons are very loyal lovers."

"That's the problem, Sango—"

"Oh, it is?" she turned to give him an outraged glare, but Miroku couldn't see it clearly with the growing orange glow from the fire behind her.

After Inuyasha had finished chasing Shippo and promptly realized that Kagome had slipped away during the distraction, he'd charged off to recapture her. A few muffled shouts later and still the couple hadn't returned to camp started Miroku worrying. He'd asked the others casually if they thought Kagome and Inuyasha should've been back, and then left camp to fetch them. Sango and Shippo intercepted him before he got far. Partly they were relieved to have the bickering couple gone, and, like Miroku, they also sensed that Inuyasha was liable to lop their heads off if they tried to disturb the couple down at the river.

Miroku blundered on, unknowingly falling into Sango's trap. "Yes, I believe that Naraku will—"

"Naraku?" Sango choked on the word and then gave one short, mirthless laugh, "What does he have to do with…?" she trailed off and then shook her head, as if trying to clear her mind, "Besides, we don't know that Inuyasha and Kagome are…"

Miroku cocked an eyebrow at her. "We don't?"

Shippo leaped onto Sango's shoulder then, startling the demon slayer into gasping once. "I'm with Miroku on this one."

"Shippo!" Sango managed to both reprimand him and sound utterly shocked with just the kit's name. "I don't think you know just what this hentai is talking about."

Miroku switched shoulders with his staff, making it jangle loudly. He cleared his throat, "Ah, Sango, I think…"

"You hush up Houshi-sama, he's just a child!"

Shippo sighed on Sango's shoulder heavily, catching both the monk and the demon slayer's attentions. "Both of you quit it! I may be a kid but I'm not dumb! I have a nose y'know!"

This seemed to have the desired effect on both the humans. Sango lowered her face, probably trying to conceal a blush that was invisible in the dark anyway. "Oh."

Miroku cleared his throat again and started to speak, "Uh, Shippo, so you know they—"

Sango slapped him, making a hissing sound, "Hentai! Don't talk about it! We don't need to know!"

"But Sango, I've heard Naraku plans to—"

Again Sango made the choking sound, as if that evil demon's name set her throat into spasms. "Naraku? I don't—"

"Then let me finish!"

There was a tense silence as the demon slayer and the monk stared at each other, stiffly. Sango slowly crossed her arms, making Shippo wobble a little on her shoulder. On the ground at Sango's side Kilala mewed, her tone troubled. She stared between her master and the monk, questioningly.

"I'm listening, Houshi-sama."

Slowly Miroku gave a tiny bow to her, trying in his small way to apologize for shouting at her earlier. "Do you remember a few days ago I was gone?"

"At the brothel?" she grumbled, "I remember."

"I tried to tell you then—I was speaking with a woman there who works as a spy."

"Speaking?" the tone of warning in Sango's voice was clear. She didn't believe him.

"Sango," Shippo started to say, quietly, "He's telling the truth."

"What?" the demon slayer twisted her neck around to look at the kit perched on her shoulder. "How could you—"

"My nose knows." Shippo moved closer into the crook of Sango's neck, snuggling into her like a kitten looking for warmth.

Miroku smirked proudly at Sango, and slowly asked, "May I continue?"

"Yes, Houshi-sama, I apologize." She bowed a little to emphasize her words, making Shippo stumble again and grumble a little under his breath.

"I was speaking to a woman I know there, and she said she'd heard word from one of Naraku's human spies that he's planning to eliminate a certain hanyou by using his human mate against him…"

Sango took a breath as if to speak but then stopped. Her eyes drifted slowly away from Miroku and back towards the distant shine of the river under the mostly full moon. One hand rose up and covered her lips, her eyes drifted closed and she let a long breath escape out her nose in a whoosh.

"Uh oh." Shippo spoke for them all.

"Would Naraku really…" Sango's thought died even before it was finished. She was holding the bridge of her nose, considering the couple down by the river and just what tortures Naraku was scheming up for them now.

"He would." Miroku peered off in the direction of the river, shining brilliantly white with the reflection of the moon. "We'll have to tell them."

She followed his gaze and pursed her lips. "Houshi-sama, the moon…"

"I know. I didn't realize it until they were already gone."

"What?" Shippo jumped to attention on Snago's shoulder, "What about the moon?"

"It's mating season."

* * *

I followed Kagome Keshikaran over a lush lawn through the darkness, feeling like a zombie inside. Everything around me felt unreal. The shadows were so close, the distant yellow lights of what I took to be a building so far away, it seemed any one of those things I could reach out and touch with my fingertips. But touching any of them might send this entire dreamscape away from me for good. I'd never learn anything from Shippo if it faded from me now. 

So I followed Kagome Keshikaran, feeling my stomach swelling inside me, hollow like a drum. Every muscle felt lighter, carved out like the Jack-O-lanterns the Americans make for one of their holidays.

The dream qualities of this strange place Kagome Keshikaran had lead me to kept reappearing foremost in my mind. I suppose I was simply shocked. Even thoughts of discovering the truth of what happened to my daughter all those years ago became distant with my shock.

We entered gardens, hopping over a small stone wall to get onto the sandy pathway. I could hear the sand and gravel bits crunch under my feet, but when I looked down at it I saw tiny sparkling lights. Iridescent, white and green, like the waves of bioluminescence you might see in plankton in the sea. Blooms of tiny living things flowing with the ocean waves, churned up into glowing when a ship or the tides awaken them.

It sent shivers through me, straight to the bone.

"Lady Higurashi?" when I looked up from the shining little stars at my feet I saw that Kagome Keshikaran was looking at me—and she had ears again. They twitched like a cat's listening all around us. Her eyes glowed green, the same color as the iridescent sparkles at my feet. "Beautiful aren't they?"

They were ghostly. They weren't human. They were haunting. They were stunning beyond my ability to grasp as a mortal.

I felt my knees trembling again. "What…"

She moved back to stand beside me, making a motherly shushing sound to quiet my fears. "It's okay. I promise."

"But what—what _is_ this place? What…" I gestured at the sparkles frantically, but then I saw that they had faded. Now the whole walkway was lit by the eerie, ghostly green and white lights. But now they had risen from the sandy path to hover at about knee-height to either side, a little like fireflies.

I stumbled against Kagome Keshikaran, still trying to take it all in. She wrapped a powerful arm against me. It was solid and warm, a powerful thing. I tried to take comfort in that, but the fact that she'd leapt high into a tree and carried me over an electric fence to get me into the place made it hard for me to pretend that she was normal, natural.

"It's kitsune magic." Kagome Keshikaran whispered next to me. She took one small step forward and waited for me to do the same. "Normal lanterns would hurt my grandpa's eyes when it's dark outside. My mother and I are the same way. These lights are…comforting to us. They are our little secret."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that, or why she seemed to feel so strongly about it. I could hear the quiver of emotion in her voice. I tried to see her face, her eyes, through the dark, but she'd turned them away from me.

We walked onward through the garden. I watched the ghostly firefly lights dip and weave this way and that, always moving lazily away from our approaching legs. Ahead of us on the path I could see them spark into life, bringing light to the darkness. As we'd draw nearer they left the sandy path to hover like the others. When I twisted my head to look backward I saw the lights bury themselves back into the sand. Moments later, as Kagome and I walked further away, they winked out.

I shuddered, oddly finding myself missing the lights when they disappeared.

The path twisted sharply on itself at long last, and I spotted the warm yellow glow from a house up ahead. From far away it'd appeared normal, a dark shape lit yellow in a few places through window screens. But close up I could see that it was monstrous, a mansion, a castle. Curling eaves rose up several stories, a few tiles reflected moonlight brightly. The yellow lights from the windows were actually not dimmed by screens—the windows were propped open, revealing that the lights weren't very bright at all. It was as if the owner was trying to conserve energy by turning down his lamps.

…or perhaps he was simply welcoming in the darkness as a nocturnal creature, only reluctantly burning light at all because he knew he had a human visitor.

I swallowed hard, trying to calm the tension in my stomach. I felt as if, should I cough, I'd end up choking on my stomach instead.

"Shippo has a castle…" my voice was a croaked whisper.

Kagome Keshikaran laughed quietly, her voice low and full of amusement. "It's a little too small for that. But it probably would qualify as a mansion. My grandpa isn't poorly off, I suppose you would say. But he has had 500 years to gain that wealth."

The trees on either side of us, stretching their willowy branches over our heads, rustled with an invisible wind. The firefly lights around our knees rippled and buzzed around each other, as if excited.

Kagome Keshikaran made a sound like a grunt in her throat. "Uncle Shinku is here."

"Uncle Shinku…?"

And then I looked up into the tree branches again and saw a pair of bright, ghostly green eyes staring down at me. I clutched at my chest, stumbling backwards, too startled to control my reaction.

The creature leapt down from the trees above and flashed white teeth at us in a beastly grin. Its ears were fixed on me but its eyes roved over both Kagome and I.

It was a fox, I realized, but it was nearly as big as a Great Dane. Lightly built, its paws were small, almost dainty. Its tail was long and fluffy. When the green lights dipped close to it I could see bright red fur, almost as intense as fire.

Kagome Keshikaran bowed deeply, "Uncle Shinku—the lady beside me is the honorable Kira Higurashi."

The fox's ears lifted sharply, his eyes turned and stared more frankly at me. He cocked his head once and then turned to look back at Kagome. All the while the gleaming white teeth never disappeared. He dipped his head to her.

"Thank you, Uncle." I realized that some sort of permission had been given, a test passed. Kagome reached back and took hold of my hand again, slowly. "Uncle Shinku will lead us now, Lady Higurashi."

"Uncle Shinku…" I took a few hesitant steps with her, watching the huge fox's tail swich this way and that. It peeked over its shoulder once and let its tongue loll outwards like a dog. I got the feeling he—it—was teasing us.

My head reeled.

Kagome slipped her arm around my elbow like a prom date might, supporting and encouraging me. "You don't have to be afraid, Kira. You're welcomed here y'know." She was grinning at me. The ears on her head twitched mischievously. The smile she offered me was every bit as playful and teasing as that of the fox's—her _uncle._

"But—I don't belong here…" that was what had bothered me, I realized. The bizarreness of the world around me, the dreamscape. The glowing lights, the swaying trees, the beautiful, dark garden. The magic. This was a place of youkai, things from legends that Gramps used to tell us. Stories my Kagome used to relate to us in her wide-eyed innocent way, things I never quite believed in. But now they were here, in my world, in reality. And I felt wrong here, as if this place knew I was mortal, a mere human. It knew I was a fake, a nonbeliever.

Kagome Keshikaran hiked her arm a little more forcefully under mine, pulling me along at a faster pace. "You belong here more than anyone else, Kira."

"But I'm just…_human…"_

She laughed once quietly. "If it wasn't for you none of us would be here. The Byakko family wouldn't exist."

I choked, "How—"

"Kagome saved Grandpa all those years ago when he was just a tiny, weak little kit. Without her care he would've died back then, and none of us would've been born."

"But that was Kagome—not me!" my words stammered, slurred and unclear. I tried to pull away feebly from Kagome Keshikaran's support. "I never believed what she said," I felt the tears starting up; "I was such a fool!"

She stopped, turning to look at me. Her face was set in a scowl. I wanted to hide from it like a little girl. I wondered if this was how my Kagome had felt the first time she'd made a demon—or even just a half demon as this Keshikaran girl was—angry with her.

"I don't believe you, Kira."

Up ahead I saw the fox stop, turning to regard us.

"But—"

"You _did_ believe your daughter. Why else would you let her go through the well? If it weren't for your _belief_ none of this…" she waved an arm vaguely around the gardens, the lights, to the red fox in front of us, "…none of it would exist. And _you wouldn't be able to see us."_

I opened my mouth, and then shut it again. Kagome Keshikaran stared at me for a moment before sighing and looking toward her grandpa's house in the distance. When I followed her gaze I saw a man's shape standing in the warm yellow light of one of the windows, watching us. Waiting. There were triangular ears on top of his head, aimed perfectly at us and unmoving.

"You did believe, Kira." Kagome Keshikaran sighed, "You believed your daughter then. It's only when she disappeared that your mind tried to change what you knew was the truth in your heart."

I shook my head weakly, "No I…" but my memories were so clouded. The only thing that was clear was the pain of loss that warped every memory I had of my little girl.

I remembered the pains of childbirth, my first time. My husband, Toshi, squeezed my hands, tried to distract me from the pain. But none of his words or his actions could stop it, I could only keep breathing and endure. And when the time came, when my first child, my only daughter, came into this world, I held her tiny body, covered in my blood and body fluids for the first time. Only then had the pain from labor ceased to truly exist. Her little frail screams were my newest pain. The worst pain I could ever feel, tearing me more than labor contractions ever could. Her pain, her cries, were more than my own could ever be.

And to come out of that memory knowing that my little girl was lost forever…

I collapsed, shuddering with my sobs. I felt the sandy gravel around my fingertips. I pawed at it, searching futilely for the tiny pink baby I could still hear crying for the first time in my memories. But there was only sharp, harsh gravel. My sobs came so fierce I could hardly breathe through them.

Kagome Keshikaran was right about me. I had believed my Kagome. I'd let her go through that well because I believed her, because I believed she would be taken care of, that she would return to me each time I gave her to time, to God.

And when she'd never come back…

"I killed her." the green lights were long since blurred out of my vision, "I killed my baby. I sent her to die!"

My hands touched something warm, soft, and furry then. When I looked up, it was the red fox, peering at me keenly with his ghostly green eyes. My hand shad touched his paws. As I stared at him he shook his head gently and lowered his face. His ears drooped. From somewhere inside his chest I heard a high sound, like a whine.

Kagome Keshikaran laid her hand on my shoulder. When she spoke I could hear the tears in her voice too. "You didn't send her to die, Kira. I'm sorry, I should've realized what I was saying…" she stopped herself, swallowing so hard I could hear it. "You didn't kill her!"

"My granddaughter is right." A deep, soothing man's voice purred at us, startling all three of us to stare at the house up ahead, where the ghost fireflies dipped and swirled around a shadowy figure with triangular ears atop his head, focused unmoving on us.

"You didn't send Kagome to die at all, Lady Higurashi." I could hear the smile in his voice, "You sent her away to live."

* * *

"Kagome?" Sango slipped in closer to the schoolgirl the minute she'd drifted a few feet behind Inuyasha. "Are you…all right?" 

Immediately Kagome felt her face burn. "I'm fine Sango," she stuttered a little, "Thanks for asking."

Ahead of them Inuyasha's ears turned backward, listening for their words.

That morning when Miroku, Sango, Kilala and Shippo all awoke they'd found that Inuyasha and Kagome had each reappeared at their individual spots, seemingly as if nothing had happened. Inuyasha was in his tree perch, watching over the Shard-hunters with his usual, quiet vigilance. Kagome was buried in her sleeping bag, calm and peaceful. They woke and interacted normally. Kagome set about her usual task as caretaker, Inuyasha badgered them all about hurrying along. The others pretended not to have noticed the couple's absence the night before…

But pretending could only last so long. Sango had finally given in first but Miroku wasn't far behind at all.

The jangle of the monk's staff announced his presence, moving up to Kagome's other side, pinning her in. "Good morning, Lady Kagome?"

Kagome scowled at him. It was already afternoon and by the look of Miroku's quirked eyebrows she knew that his words weren't a mistake. She started to answer but a snort from Inuyasha up ahead made all three of them shut their mouths.

"Leave her alone, monk."

Miroku lifted his hands into the air, palms up, trying to proclaim his innocence. "I did nothing except comment on this lovely day we have."

The hanyou grunted. "Feh. Enough talk—we need to move." He twisted around and looked squarely at Kagome. "C'mon." One little gesture with a clawed finger and Kagome nodded, moving forward and letting Inuyasha take her onto his back.

_Thank you, Inuyasha. _She let her gratitude spill through the link to him. _I know they know but…_

_Not their business. _The tips of his clawed thumbs tickled lightly, evocatively on the insides of her knees and the undersides of her thighs. _Our business. I'll skin that pervert monk if he tries that again._

The gentle tickling shot waves of heat through Kagome, almost against her will. It erased her embarrassment and all her doubts. She sighed and let her head fall against his shoulders.

Behind them Kilala transformed with a short growl and took to the sky, carrying Sango with her. Miroku carried Shippo on his shoulder and worked off his extra energy—which otherwise surely would've gone to his usual perversion—by running to keep up with Kilala and the hanyou. As was usual it was Inuyasha who set the pace. On this particular day it was a slower, lazier speed. Yet, even at a relaxed speed they managed to reach a village a little after midday.

These particular villagers were easy-going and apparently accustomed to small demons. Few stares were given to Shippo and Kilala, though as usual Inuyasha was still regarded warily. Miroku tried to bargain with them, offering up the group's services as demon slayers and workforce but the man who met with them wasn't interested in such a deal. They were a mining camp, which meant they were almost exclusively men. They eventually agreed to let the Shard-hunters stay the night, but now for a payment of work or money in the usual way. Instead the headman suggested that Kagome and Sango work washing clothes and cooking—because they as men just generally hated doing it. Out of paranoia it was also agreed that Kagome and Sango would never be left completely alone with the villagers.

They started work quickly, beginning with washing the miners' clothes down at the nearby river. Inuyasha accompanied them, hovering like an angry swarm of bees. The three of them squabbled every so often until Kagome finally convinced Inuyasha to get up off his backsides and catch a few fish. Later, as the girls returned the cleaned garments back to the miners, Inuyasha snapped at the men when they stayed for more than a few seconds or even looked at the girls for longer than it took to retrieve their clothes and go.

Sango had no complaints truly for Inuyasha's behavior, though her face was flushed red with embarrassment each time he shooed away a man that was thanking them for their work. Kagome, on the other hand, glared at the hanyou and scolded him numerous times for his behavior.

"They aren't going to hurt us just saying thanks, Inuyasha." She grumbled.

"Too damn bad." But through the link there was something else there, buzzing in his thoughts. He was twitchy, irritable, and impatient. Yet when Kagome made him hold the baskets he was gentle with her. He stood too close to her, touched her seemingly by accident at every chance he could. She bumped into him and found herself stumbling several times as she and Sango moved between each "womanly" task the miners assigned them. Each time Inuyasha caught her and held on a little too long.

After the sun went down Kagome and Sango finished up their day by mending some clothing in one of the huts. It was a small place, cramped, but well-lit. The women were thankful, sewing was a stress on the eyes in any other condition. Inuyasha meanwhile grumbled and spent most of his time with his eyes squinted because of that same light. Sango, surprisingly, was very adept at the sewing work. Kagome had always imagined the demon slayer as being more like Inuyasha, strong fingered, and therefore clumsy with something so delicate and small as a needle. But as it turned out Sango's speedy work put Kagome to shame.

When stabbing her fingers at last grew tiresome, Kagome sighed and set her work down, pinning the needle into the fabric t keep it from falling onto the floor where it could be stepped on. "I'm tired Sango."

Without looking away from her sewing, Sango nodded. "Me too." She smiled pleasantly at the fabric in her hands as if it was a person and not fabric at all. "I'll bet Miroku and Shippo have cooked up Inuyasha's fish by now. We'll be lucky if Shippo hasn't eaten our share by now. Or Kilala too for that matter."

Kagome hadn't missed the twinkle in the demon slayer's eye when she'd spoken of Miroku. "Yeah, I know you've got to be missing Miroku too."

Sango lifted her eyes, cheeks immediately broken out into crimson color. "Kagome!" she gasped, "That letch—no…"

From his corner Inuyasha surprised them by popping his head up, proving that he was in fact still awake. "Ugh. I hate it when you two start barking this way."

Kagome quirked an eyebrow at him, "Barking?"

"Whatever. Shut up. Are you two done yet?" he rolled his golden eyes around disgustedly.

"I think so," Sango sighed, finally setting down her own sewing work. "I think it's time for some of Miroku's fish. What do you think Kagome?"

"Well—" Inuyasha didn't let her finish.

"Then quit talking about it and lets move!" the hanyou was on his feet in a second, blowing out the lamps and lanterns, throwing the room into a much dimmer light. "Those lazy bastards can finish this themselves."

They stepped out of the hut and crossed through the quieted mining camp to the small hut they'd been given to call their own during their stay. The smell of the cooked fish came immediately as they entered the room. Shippo was snoring gently, next to the fire beside Kilala, while Miroku was meditating up in the loft of the small hut. When Inuyasha and the women entered the hut, Miroku's eyes snapped open instantly.

"Ah, it's good to see you. How was the work, ladies? Any trouble beating the men away, Inuyasha?" he smirked knowingly.

Shippo sprang awake then, blinking sleepy eyes at Kagome for a moment before he leapt at her, snuggling into her. "Kagome! Sango! Kagome! Have some fish—I wouldn't let Kilala eat yours."

Kilala mewed from the floor, her expression clearly sour. Sango took a spot next to the cat and picked one of the grilled fish off its skewer. "The work went well, Houshi-sama, no trouble. I think it's worked out well."

"Yeah, I'd say I'm in agreement with Sango," Kagome glanced once with slight worry at Inuyasha, who was still standing stiffly beside the door, like a sentry on duty. "Loosen up, Inuyasha!"

He snorted and looked away, "Feh."

Kagome took a seat next to Sango and reached for the next fish on the skewer. Shippo hummed contentedly on her shoulder. The girls ate slowly together, chatting here and there. Occasionally Kagome looked toward Inuyasha and probed their link, asking him to come and sit with them, to have his share of the fish. She tried to peer into his thoughts, but all she found was the same bubbling impatience and irritation he'd been feeling all day. He refused to eat, claiming not to be hungry, and eventually took up his usual distant spot in the corner, Tetsuseiga clasped in his hands, ready at a moment's notice.

The last fish—Inuyasha's—went to Shippo mostly, but also, by Inuyasha's insistence, to Kagome as well. It worried Kagome over and over again that the normally ravenous hanyou had turned away food. And to make it worse she found nothing to answer her questions in the link. Inuyasha wasn't truly hiding anything from her, but he was maintaining a certain, carefully controlled distance. And he was absolutely seething with irritation and a restless, troubled impatience. When he dozed off and on while the others bedded down that night, Kagome watched Inuyasha flinch and fidget uncomfortably.

After the fire died down to coals and the breathing of the others had slowed and evened out, Kagome found that she couldn't sleep. Inuyasha's restlessness seemed to have passed to her through the link. She strained to see him through the dark but her human eyes couldn't make out his form, and her human ears never made out the sound of his breathing. The link told her he was awake, at least a little, but other than that it was silent.

And then a shadow loomed over her sleeping bag. "Inuyasha?" she whispered,sitting upand squinting, trying to see him.

The shadow knelt low on all fours and fumbled slowly for Shippo, who'd snuggled into Kagome's sleeping bag, as was usual for him. Kagome watched as he lifted the kit with both hands and smoothly moved a few steps away to deposit him on Sango's futon instead.

She sat up, poking the link fervently, _Inuyasha—?_

_Quiet, Kagome._ The hanyou's shadow appeared at her side again, pulling gently, but with insistence, at her sleeping bag.

_What are you doing Inuyasha? What's wrong? _She knew he was trying to sleep beside her, but there was something more to it, something deeper and darker that he was trying to keep to himself. All she could feel was his desperation, his impatience. It was like a physical illness—when his hands grazed her hands and arms the skin felt hot, burning.

He lied against her, tangling his arms and legs with her own, pressing his mouth to her neck. The stiffness in his muscles and his mood suddenly vanished, whooshing out of him in a long, tremendous sigh. Relief surged over Kagome through the link and at last she understood. Every touch throughout the day, every time he caught her, stood too close to her, it was all like candy for him. He was an addict, torn apart inside when he couldn't be touching her, smelling her skin. It'd been all Inuyasha could do to stay away from her until this moment.

He could never voice it aloud, probably not truly in his thoughts either, but Kagome could feel it there nonetheless. His love, the frantic need he had to protect her, to be near her always. She embraced him closer, welcoming him, returning the same love and yearning.

She felt his lips and then his teeth on her neck, teasing, tickling, nibbling. As little chills started passing through her, she sighed, clutching him closer. The first time hadn't been a fluke, Inuyasha wasn't going to pull away from her or become embarrassed. Instead he was back for more—and she couldn't say that she wasn't eager too.

His fuzzy white ears flicked her chin and she grinned, twisting her head just enough to capture those tiny appendages in her mouth. Inuyasha froze immediately. His breath caught and then picked up speed. He wheezed her name out both through their link and into her neck. _"Kagome..."_

She smirked triumphantly, only to choke on the expression when his clawed fingers trailed up and down her body, attacking buttons and the drawstring on her pants. Kagome struggled to think, but it was so hard when Inuyasha pulled away from her into the depths of her sleeping bag to explore her body with his mouth next.

She blinked and the room wavered around her—a lump just a few feet away marked Sango's sleeping bag. Kilala and Shippo were both now nestled into it. Miroku was above them, sleeping in the loft. She thought she could hear him snoring—but then again maybe it was just her own tortured, ragged breathing.

_Inuyasha,_ she probed him through the link, but his end was sluggish and slow, clearly distracted. She felt waves of his desire pour through her, nearly washing her own thoughts away. _You've got to stop—we've got to stop, the others are…_

_They're asleep._ But his mouth stilled on her stomach, his hands slowed. She felt him trying to think clearly, but it was like holding his breath underwater, it could only last for so long. In a few seconds she felt his fangs poke into the skin just below her ribs, moving up.

Kagome cursed her own body for reacting. _They won't be for long…_

Again he halted, but she could feel his fingers twitching. And through the link she also knew exactly how hard it was for him to stall, how impossible it was for him to think. Inside him somewhere was a hanyou that was very much alarmed at what was happening—but that part of him was helpless and overridden by something deeper, darker, and primitive. It knew only the call of the moon and the blooming summertime, of mates swollen with pups, trees heavy with fruit, and the honor and responsibility of pleasing his chosen mate.

His breathing was so fast it was almost harsh. _I can't stop, Kagome. Tie me up, bind me…I can't stop._

He shook against her, straining his muscles to stop, but only for a few moments. Kagome's thoughts buzzed out of existence briefly when his hands tickled and crawled along the inside of her thighs. A wilder, lusty part of her wanted to throw caution to the winds, to hold her tongue and pray that the others really did stay sleeping, the rest of her remained human, full of fears. The first time had been a breaking of tension, a desperation between them both. But this time she was thinking more clearly and not entirely sure she liked the conclusion those thoughts came to.

She was young, she was fertile. There was no birth control. She didn't know if it was possible for a half demon to impregnate a human, but at the rate they were going they'd find out very soon.

_Inuyasha,_ she reached down, fumbling for him, and found herself teasing his ears again. That stopped him, making him gasp. When she let go there was a second or two when he did nothing and his thoughts cleared enough for her to speak her mind. _I could get pregnant._

In the 21st century people their age treated that last word like it was the plague. In the Feudal Era, however, there were girls years younger than Kagome who'd already had multiple children. Miroku and Sango were relatively old to be single and not tied down to a family or a spouse. Inuyasha, in the daylight, would have said he didn't desire offspring. Who'd want pups from a half-demon anyway? And he'd never be able to father them the right way. Naraku loomed far too large on the horizon, keeping them moving and worrying. He was a warrior, not a father or a husband.

But at that moment, with instinct bearing down on him, he was more animal than anything else. Her message had the opposite effect on his body than what she'd hoped for. He growled, deep and low, more vibration than actual sound. Clawed fingers pulled on her pants; he attacked her stomach with his mouth and teeth, heading steadily downward.

_Stop!_ But it was so hard for her to think clearly, it felt so right and wrong at once. While she begged him to stop with her mind her hands wandered of their own accord, teasing an ear, touching the back of his neck, anything she could reach. She wanted him, but not with the others sleeping so close by, not without considering the consequences. _Stop, Inuyasha!_

She twisted slightly, laid both hands on his shoulders, and suddenly hissed with pain, feeling a little jolting shock pass through her body and into his. The hanyou jerked away from her immediately, dragging the sleeping bag a short ways with him. They lied very still for a moment, and then she felt Inuyasha quivering. Waves of body heat seemed to roll away from him; his breathing was still ragged and harsh.

He sounded miserable—and Kagome longed to see his face but he was buried so deep in the sleeping bag that all she could see was a lump. But what he sent to her through the link was _Thank you._

_Why?_ She couldn't help herself, she reached out to touch him, but Inuyasha caught her hand, squeezing it hard in his own in the depths of the sleeping bag.

_Priestess's magic. _

Kagome blinked. The bolt of electricity, she remembered that. But she couldn't remember calling it, or even thinking about it…when had she learned to do it? She sighed and closed her eyes. Part of her already hated that Inuyasha was so far away from her, and embarrassed to boot.

_I don't know how…are you okay?_ She reached out with her other hand, looking to touch his face or his ears. When she touched his hair, Inuyasha flinched away, jerking the sleeping bag too. Kagome fought the sudden pain in her throat. She didn't want him flinching from her touch. _Inuyasha? I'm so sorry—did it hurt? Whatever I did, did it hurt?_

He snorted from under the sleeping bag. _It's nothing._

He wasn't being entirely truthful. And it had hurt him. She sighed miserably. _I'm so sorry…_

There was another snort. _Don't, Kagome. It was my fault. I'll be fine._

_What's wrong?_

This time there was a sigh from the lump in the sleeping bag. It shifted, pulling itself up slowly until Kagome could see a dark head emerge, long black hair—

She choked. "I purified you?"

She made out the shine of his eyes as he rolled them heavenward. _Keep it down would ya? It's nothing. I'll be fine in an hour or two. _She felt his embarrassment just at the edges of his mind, the gratefulness he felt to her for doing it, even if it meant that for the moment he was weak. Without her actions he hadn't been able to control himself.

After a moment he yawned quickly and closed his eyes. The link told her that Inuyasha was exhausted—and starving. Apparently being purified really drained a hanyou. That didn't surprise her really, didn't it kill full demons? Inuyasha survived unscathed because of his human side for the most part. But, she wondered, what had driven him that night? All day in fact. What force was so powerful that it made him forget about eating? What brought on such powerful animal instincts in him that he couldn't stop himself from seducing her? Or were demons and half-demons always horny lovers?

She half-formed the question in her mind, but Inuyasha shied away from it. He was half asleep and not interested in talking about it—but she did sense that he knew the answer.

Then he was asleep. Kagome stayed awake for several minutes after he fell asleep, examining his now human face. At long last sleep took her as well.

* * *

Oh yeah guys, I'm done for now. Sheesh the last part was so hard to write. I hope I got it right. Leave me a review and tell me what you think ;-) 


	24. Myoga 2

**A/N:** I feel, as usual like this sucks. Not much to say. I'm tired. Gotta work. I should already be in bed. But I felt I updated one, and I was almost done with the other so, why not? I'll wonder why I was so stupid in the morning at 5:15 AM or so but ... yeah. I'm doing a review thing in the beginning of these chapters now, just to help you guys out. It was a suggestion by a reviewer, and b/c I listen, yep you got it. Enjoy. Leave a message/review you know, whatever. Suggestions, comments, all that good stuff.

**Disc: No I don't own him.**

**

* * *

**

**Last Chapter Review:( Family names: Byakko **is Shippo's family name. **Taishita** I haven'trevealed yet. **Keshikaran** are descendents from a daughter of the Tetsusaigas and another, different family. **Tetsusaiga** supposed descendents of Inuyasha and Kagome H.)_**Mrs Higurashi** was on her way to meet **Shippo Byakko. **She was with **Kagome Keshikaran,** a half fox demon. Her grandpa is Shippo. Her mother was Shippo's daughter, named **Aka Byakko.** Her father was the Keshikaran. **Souta** is on a date with **Kari Keshikaran.** Last chapter **Inuyasha and Kagome** were dealing quietly with having newly become lovers. The mating season came and hit **Inuyasha** hard. **Kagome** purified him. More mating season madness. **Naraku** sent the snake demon a few chapters ago, which bit Kagome and nearly killed her. His plot continues unfolding very slowlythis chapter..._

* * *

**Myoga 2**

The rustling sounds reached him first, someone was shifting during sleep, Shippo maybe, Inuyasha thought. Then the faint snuffles and snores of sleeping humans followed the first sounds. It was Miroku doing the snoring. That thought was followed swiftly by the realization that he was not sitting upright in his corner, but lying sprawled on the floor in a sleeping bag instead. And he was wrapped up in a second warm, soft body. The scent on that body came next, feminine and sweet, healthy and vibrant.

For a second the presence of the female body next to him was all he thought about, the only thing really _worth_ thinking about. Her skin was warm and alive. His arms were draped around her, one seemed to be clutching the rise of her hip, and the other was palm-flat against the narrow space just below her breasts. His legs were tangled in hers.

When he reached instinctively for the place he shared with her inside his mind, he was rewarded with a warm buzz from inside her head. Kagome was still asleep, and she was happy for the moment, content and at ease.

For a split second life was perfect, life was a little slice of bliss served on fine china.

And then he felt the pesky, and sadly all-too familiar, tickling sensation on his chin, then his cheek. A night insect, sneaking over his face to bite him for a little blood meal. The sting in his cheek came a second later, confirming his suspicion.

Inuyasha grunted and quietly drew away from Kagome just enough to slap the bloodsucker in the act.

"Ow…Master Inuyasha…"

The hanyou's gold eyes snapped wide open immediately, his clawed fingers picked at the flattened flea demon, clasping him tight in one palm. Myoga squirmed with all six legs (arms?) scratching futilely at Inuyasha's hand. Myoga's cries for mercy were muffled and unheeded.

Slowly, Inuyasha slipped away from the warmth of Kagome and her sleeping bag. He watched her face as he went, touching their link faintly to monitor whether she was waking or not. He might've chucked the flea demon into the cooling coals of last night's fire and pounced on Kagome again, but memories of the previous night's little fiasco were still very fresh in his mind.

He ducked out of the hut's flap after tiptoeing his way around Sango, Shippo, and Kilala, and leapt through the half-light at dawn, rushing through the sleeping mining camp to the edge of the forest. Inuyasha only stopped when he was sure he was exactly far enough away to raise his voice enough to threaten his bite-size retainer, while at once not waking the entire mining camp. With that safety distance, he at last crouched low against a fallen, rotting log, and opened his palm.

Myoga fell at once into a frantic bow, apologizing and pleading forgiveness. "I am very sorry, Master Inuyasha, very sorry—please don't squash me!"

"Quit blubbering, old man." Inuyasha grumbled, ears turning backwards with irritation. "What are you here for?"

Yet even as he asked it, Inuyasha thought he knew. There was a tightening feeling in his stomach that spread, like a stain, through his chest and then his intestines.

A sly look crossed over Myoga's face briefly. "To congratulate you, Master!"

Inuysha thought he already knew what the congratulations were about. His fingers twitched a little, as if contemplating closing up around his tiny insect-retainer to squish him for good. "If you know what's good for you Myoga, you'd shut your face up right now." He growled.

"But, Master Inuyasha, this is a most joyous occasion! Your father would be so proud of you!" Myoga jumped up and down on the hanyou's palm while Inuyasha scowled and ignored the pest. Yet, despite his seeming nonchalance, Inuyasha's cheeks were flaming bright red.

"Shut up!" he snapped.

Myoga stopped jumping and fell flat again, bowing. "Yes, Master. My apologies—please spare—"

"I said shut up, old man!" Inuyasha closed his fist over the flea and tossed him away into the trees. Myoga screeched the whole way, but, as even a mortal flea might, he recovered the instant he hit the ground and began hopping back to his disgruntled master. Instead of risk being squashed by the frustrated hanyou, Myoga perched on a flat stone a few feet away and regarded his master silently for a moment.

Inuyasha had paused, turning to stare back through a few trees and some underbrush, back at the mining camp. But he wasn't watching something, or waiting, or even really seeing anything, really. The hanyou was wrapped up in his own thoughts, deeper and more troubling than anything that could be going on in the little village. His ears flicked to and fro when a few birds chirped behind him, or someone inside the distant huts coughed or spoke faintly in morning greeting. His amber eyes were sharp and narrowed, bringing his eyebrows to meet over the bridge of his nose.

Myoga cleared his throat quietly and settled himself on his stone, as if he were about to tell his young, mercurial master a story. But instead of speaking right away, Myoga let the silence drag on, and slowly Inuyasha turned to glare at him.

"Why are you still here, old man?" the hanyou glared at him, challenging. They both knew that the flea had more to say to him.

"I thought you should know, Master, that Lady Kagome is no ordinary mortal."

Inuyasha's face wrinkled, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Myoga began, shifting his weight around and crossing all four of his bug arms across his chest, "That Lady Kagome may no longer be called—well, uh—mortal, exactly."

"What!" Inuyasha took a step forward as if to grab the flea demon and Myoga panicked, leaping away and shouting frantically.

"Master Inuyasha! Please, hear me out! You'll like what I have to say!"

Inuyasha stopped his advance, but he remained stiff, snarling down at the flea. "Hurry it up." Somewhere, in the hut where he'd left her with Sango, Miroku and the others, Kagome was beginning to wake up. He wanted to be near her when she did, he didn't want her to feel abandoned, not in the least.

"Lady Kagome is bound to you now. She is linked completely. As a result she will begin to feel many changes that may at first frighten her but I can assure you both that I have seen it happen before—with your father and your mother, Master Inuyasha—and that it is really all very normal."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Inuyasha scowled.

"Lady Kagome is no longer completely human. She will—"

Now Inuyasha's ears fell backwards, he took a few steps back as if Myoga had just told him that Kagome was going to die. "What are you—"

Myoga huffed one exasperated sigh, which silenced Inuyasha's sputtering words, before plunging into more detailed explanation. "Through your link, Master Inuyasha, you have changed Lady Kagome, physically. From now on she will be, in some aspects, more like a hanyou, such as yourself, than she will be human."

Inuyasha stammered, "She's a miko, she can't turn into—"

The flea demon let out another huffing sound and shook his head. "Please, let me finish, Master Inuyasha." He waited a moment with his head bowed, and when there was nothing from the hanyou but silence, Myoga continued. "I do not mean that Lady Kagome will _transform_ in any way. She will appear human, as she does now, but she will be blessed with gifts from her completed bond with you."

When Myoga looked up at him, Inuyasha wore a very frustrated, confused expression on his face. Sighing yet again, Myoga continued onward in a more grumbling tone.

"I can't predict all the changes that will occur, Master, but for example, Lady Kagome may now be able to wield a few of Tetsusaiga's attacks, with training of course. She might grow stronger, as well. Her senses may begin to compete with yours." He paused, and once more the sly expression flashed across his face, a tiny narrowing of the eyes, a tweak of his mouth (A/N: proboscis? You know, the thing he uses to suck everyone's blood with).

"Oh, and of course she will now share your lifespan."

Inuyasha's expression, which had been utterly shell-shocked, now rearranged itself as his mouth fell open. "She—_my lifespan?"_

"Yes, Master Inuyasha. She will no longer age as a normal human."

Myoga watched the hanyou's expressions with slow, crafty eyes. He was thoroughly enjoying his master's surprise. Even better than surprise, however, was the joy and relief that swarmed over the hanyou a second later.

And then things turned abruptly sour for the conniving little flea demon.

Inuyasha locked his eyes on Myoga, at first wide and ecstatic with relief—and then suddenly narrowed and dangerous.

"My lord?" Myoga asked, gulping once.

"You knew about this, didn't you, Myoga?"

"I, uh…" the flea fidgeted nervously.

"You bastard! Why the hell didn't you tell me this weeks ago!" Inuyasha's fists opened and closed as he fought down the urge to attack and grind his tiny retainer between his canine teeth.

How much pain, how much worry, could he have saved himself and Kagome from if he'd just known years ago that he could save Kagome by taking her as a mate. It was a horrible betrayal in his mind, a cruel joke. How long had he delayed because he felt certain that getting that close to her would only serve to kill him when she grew old and died long before his own time? How many tears had Kagome cried thinking that he didn't care, when in actuality it was the thought of her death as a mortal that kept him away?

"I needed you to choose her in faith!" Myoga spluttered, "If you had known this before, you might have acted prematurely! Master, can't you see—"

"No." Inuyasha snarled, at last losing his inner struggle. "You should have told me, old man!" he lunged after Myoga, baring his fangs at the flea and snatching at him with his claws, "Hold still you little bastard!"

Myoga leapt away, panting and pleading and baiting Inuyasha all in the same breath. "Master, please forgive me—don't you want to hear what else I have to say?"

"No, I'm gonna smash you for this, old man!"

"Please, Master, no!" Myoga jumped away, heading deeper into the underbrush, away from the mining camp. Away from Kagome. Inuyasha didn't pause in his chase. He plunged into the thickets, slashing them apart with his claws. Myoga leaped away again, a tiny speck looking for something that could fly him safely out of the hanyou's reach. But before he could reach the lower branches of the nearest tree, in his quest for a bird to carry him away, Inuyasha snatched him out of the air.

"Gotcha!"

"Please, Master Inuyasha!" Myoga shouted from inside the hanyou's closed palms. "I've served you faithfully!"

"No, you've served me cowardly." Inuyasha growled. He pressed his palms together and began to wring them, making Myoga squawk with pain.

"Master—you must listen to me! You must understand _why_ this has happened!"

Inuyasha's ears twittered several times, but his dangerous, angry expression didn't lessen at all. "I don't care, Myoga!"

There was an abrupt sting inside his palms, and Inuyasha's breath hissed at it. Reflexively, acting more on instinct than thought, he pulled his hands apart, inadvertently setting Myoga free. The flea wasted no time before he was leaping up and into the nearest tree, out of Inuyasha's leaping distance. Hidden amidst the fluttering leaves, he could throw his voice down to his master without endangering himself.

"Myoga, you coward!" the hanyou shouted after him, "You brought this on yourself!"

"I did nothing of the sort," Myoga called out indignantly, "And I'm certainly going to leave now, I can see where my expertise is unappreciated."

Inuyasha searched the trees around and above him, ears swiveling to pinpoint the sound of Myoga's voice. He was prowling, on the hunt, even as he searched his mind for a cunning retort.

"That's—" but Inuyasha cut himself off when he felt Kagome's side of the link flare up inside his mind, coming alive. He stared into nothingness, concentrating on her, sending her reassurance and comfort. Myoga's voice whined on somewhere above him, but he was lost for those seconds within his link.

And then two of Myoga's words reached him, jolting him straight to the bone, "…your offspring."

He pulled out of his link, quieting it, and looked upwards again, at the trees. His amber eyes were focused now, alert. "What did you just say, Myoga?"

"I was saying, Master Inuyasha," Myoga went on in his exasperated tone, "That if I'd told you about how the mating would affect Lady Kagome, you might have acted rashly. It is necessary for mates to choose each other and be devoted under any and all circumstances. Your father endured the same test and passed, just as you now have. Mates must act as one unit. This helps assure that you and Lady Kagome were indeed right to become mates. It will be a great help to you when raising your offspring."

"Offspring?" the hanyou quoted, staring up at the trees, shell-shocked for the second time that early morning. He glanced back at the mining camp without really seeing it. The sunlight was clouded with dust as it slipped in at an angle through the trees. Inuyasha scowled and knelt lower into the underbrush, lowering his voice when he spoke again. "She's not…Myoga…?"

"Yes, Master?" the flea appeared, a small black dot, that fell through the air from the trees above to land on one of the saplings at about eyelevel with Inuyasha. Apparently the coward was reasonably sure that the hanyou was past boiling point and the danger had passed.

Abruptly the hanyou's face hardened. He sent out one clawed hand and flicked Myoga away. The flea demon screamed as he careened through the air, and then scrambled to hide again.

But this time when he looked back for his master, the hanyou was no longer there.

* * *

It was like being in a dream, I thought. Truly there isn't a better way to describe it. Kagome Keshikaran clutched my shoulder from above, a huge, Great Dane-sized red fox grinned wolfishly back at me, and up ahead a shadowy male figure with triangular ears on top of his head cocked his head, regarding all of us. Grief hung very close to me still, like the ghostly bioluminescent fireflies lighting the garden trail. I tried to keep myself from falling down with shock. I don't really know if I would've succeeded without Kagome Keshikaran's help.

The shadow-figure's ears turned backward, his quizzical tilt of the head changed, righting itself once more. "Shinku," his voice was both amused and annoyed, "Why have you greeted our guests as an animal?"

When I looked back toward Shinku, the red fox, there wasn't a fox there anymore. Between one blink of my eye and the next he'd changed forms. Now he was a tall, lean man wearing blue jeans and a bright red shirt. But when he turned and smiled at us, even in the dim, greenish light from the fireflies, I could see that he had the same soul underneath. His face was long, just as the fox's had been, and when he smiled—it was more of a grin actually—I thought it almost looked vicious.

I shuddered once, reminded yet again that these were youkai, they were not human like I was.

But when Shinku spoke it was in a deep, gentle voice. "Because I am an animal, Father."

There was a snort from Shippo. "Lady Higurashi, this is Shinku, my youngest _kit,_"

I had started to stretch out a wary hand to properly introduce myself to Shinku, but the word _kit_ startled me into inaction again. Shinku's beaming grin turned into a frown, but it wasn't directed at me, it was directed at his father.

"Father…"

Kagome Keshikaran chuckled low in her throat and leaned in to whisper to me. "Uncle Shinku is unmated. Grandpa isn't too happy about it, so he calls him a kit."

"A kit?" I swallowed my uncertainty, or at least I tried to.

"Yeah, it's like you calling your son a boy instead of a man. It insults his pride. Until Uncle Shinku takes on responsibility, Grandpa isn't going to call him an adult."

"Can't you see we're making our honored guest uncomfortable? _Dad,_ can't you see that?" Shinku's tone had become more petulant. He gestured at Kagome Keshikaran and me and made a huffing sound.

"Oh yes, I am sorry, how rude of me." The shadow started to move forward, stepping into the ghostly green lights. I saw a handsome man who wouldn't have struck me as much over forty years of age, and when he smiled it was a lot like his son's, but there was a depth to it that put me at ease. His mischief was tempered by age and responsibility and…I thought I could see loss and grief there too, like the kind that my Kagome had always said she feared would arise in her little Shippo. He'd been so traumatized. I'd always wanted to hug the child she described in her stories, and seeing the man now, grown up and more than 500 years old, I still wanted to embrace him.

"Hello Lady Higurashi, I am Byakko Shippo. Welcome to my estate—and I _do_ mean you are welcome. Any time, any place here." He lifted his hands, palms upward, gesturing at the garden, at the entire estate all around us. "After all, I owe you a debt I could never truly pay."

I shook my head, "I don't—uh," I stuttered nervously, "If I may say so, sir, I don't think I understand…"

He stared at me for a moment, scowling. I tried to see the child my daughter had described, but all I saw was a man with fox ears and a bushy tail behind him, tapping the ground behind him like an irritated cat's. I was so embarrassed I wanted to kneel before him, bow, just to cover my face. I did try and duck into a little one, avoiding all of their eyes. I caught sight of Shinku snickering at me out of the corner of my eye.

"Lady Higurashi," he sighed, tiredly, "Let me start with this: please, don't call me sir. We are all equals here—well, except for Shinku of course." I saw his eyes—a pale color, perhaps green?—flick over to glare accusingly at his son.

"Hey!" indignantly Shinku scowled and crossed his arms over his lanky, narrow chest. "Feh!"

At that sound, which I'd heard so often from Inuyasha when he'd come to visit my daughter, something inside me hardened, tightened around my heart like a fist. I fought with the sensation, trying not to let my reaction show on my face. I didn't now how old Shinku was, but it was entirely possible that that reaction was a learned trait from Shippo, who'd grown up around Inuyasha of course, or it might have come from Inuyasha himself, depending on how old Shinku actually was and how long Inuyasha had lived…

I felt my knees start shaking again.

Shippo and Kagome Keshikaran took silent notice of my distress. I felt Kagome wrap her arm tighter around me, and Shippo's ears laid flat on his skull.

"Shinku," Shippo started to speak, but his son interrupted him, apparently having also seen my reaction.

"What? I just wanted to see—"

"Shinku!" Shippo shouted, startling all of us. He had a powerful, frightening voice when he wanted it. The stern expression on this man's face was nothing like the tiny, frightened kitsune youkai child that my daughter had always described.

When Shinku snapped his mouth shut and bowed low to his father, it was very clear who'd won the battle.

At last Shippo turned back to me and came a few steps closer, apparently planning on taking my other side and supporting me like Kagome Keshikaran was. My stomach flip flopped inside me at the thought of such a being, a youkai, nearly as good as an immortal, helping me walk. I must seem so weak and pathetic to him! My arms and legs shook as he took my other arm in his own and smiled at me like a gentle father. I could sense Kagome grinning on my other side too; I felt her pull on my arm eagerly.

Up close Shippo was not quite as intimidating as I thought he should've been. His skin was human-looking enough, there were lines where he frowned and smiled. His eyes were moist and they glowed that unearthly green-white in the dark when he looked away from me. It was those eyes that were the most disturbing. It wasn't his ears, it wasn't his tail, those were all things I could ignore. But the glow in his eyes was simply unnerving. For all our good vision as humans, three-dimensional depth perception as they say, we must really have worthless night vision.

They took one step, and then another, coaxing me along gently. I tried to focus on what I'd come for, what I wanted to know. Kagome Keshikaran had said that Shippo would have answers to all my questions. She said he'd been waiting five hundred years to tell me the story himself. I could only pray she was telling the truth. All the other families kept such secrets—why? I could only wonder. Why would they cover it up when they must've known I was out there somewhere, mourning my little girl.

That tiny bit of anger was enough to fuel me into walking more independently, into thinking up a few of the first things I wanted to know…

Shippo cleared his throat and began speaking before I could ask. As it turned out he'd as good as read my mind. As unnerving as that was, I was grateful to him for starting us. "Lady Higurashi." Shippo said, while we still walked and stared straight ahead. "I know that one of the greatest things that has weighed on you must be just _why._ Am I right?"

I nearly stumbled over my own feet while trying to gape at him. "Yes…"

"Then I am most saddened to report that even after 500 years, I cannot tell you with any true certainty, just why the Bone-eater's well stopped working for Kagome one day." He stopped us with a subtle motion, a flick of one stubby-fingered hand. "I suppose," he started in a stiffer tone than before, "You wanted to blame Inuyasha."

My stomach lurched inside me. What kind of game was this? Was this a test? I searched my mind frantically for words, tried hard to control my facial expression. "I…"

"It's nothing to be ashamed about, Lady Higurashi." Shippo assured me, quietly, but I could shake the thought that he wasn't looking at me, there was something else perhaps hidden in his thoughts, "You and I both remember the way Inuyasha was with her, very possessive. But I'm sure you know that Kagome was not kept against her will."

Now he looked over at me, hoping for a response. He wanted to know that I believed him so far. I did. Blaming the hanyou had been a reaction mostly of grief, though I couldn't help but feel my face ripple a little with displeasure still. My Kagome certainly had spent a lot of time on the other side of the well, and I knew very well that she wasn't just there because she felt a sense of duty to the Shikon Jewel.

"No, I know she was there because she wanted to be, but—it was the well then? The well stopped working for her?"

"Yes." Both Shippo and Kagome Keshikaran agreed at the same time.

Shippo elaborated a second later. "One day she got mad at Inuyasha, I'm sure you know it happened a lot. She left him to go home, to you, but the well acted like any other well. She jumped into it and she hit dirt. She was miserable for weeks," Shippo sighed, frowning a little then, "But once we started traveling again, she recovered, a little."

I swallowed hard, trying to bury the lump in my throat. "My poor…" I felt Shippo's concerned gaze, Shinku's curious stare, and Kagome Keshikaran squeezing my arm together, but none of them, nor any words I could say, could truly express what I felt. There is nothing more powerful than a mother's love. That is what I've always read, but I also know it to be true where it matters most, in my gut, in my own heart, mind, body and soul. My Kagome, missing her, it was like a sickness that sprang up every so often, eating away at my vital organs, never fatal, but always draining.

I might've cried, but Shippo continued talking. "Have you ever seen Back To The Future, Lady Higurashi? Or The Terminator, perhaps?"

Was he crazy? What a time to start talking about American movies!

"Not really…"

"Hmmn." Shippo hummed in the back of his throat and then flicked his eyes over at his son. "Shinku, explain the movies to Lady Higurashi."

Shinku smirked and launched immediately into two stories. "Back to the Future is about a kid who travels back in time and accidentally stops his parents from meeting and falling in love. Because he isn't supposed to exist in that timeframe, he disrupts his own past. He rewrites time and the events leading up to his birth, destroying them. Thus, he ceases to exist, he starts vanishing at the end of the movie." His leering grin spread wider as he began the second story. "The Terminator is the other movie. It's about a war between humans and machines. The machines send a cyborg robot—a Terminator—back into the past to kill a woman named Sarah Connor who will eventually become the mother of John Connor, a human. They want to kill her before she has her son. To stop the machines, the humans send a man named Reese into the past to stop the Terminator. He protects Sarah Connor, and while he's there, he sleeps with her and becomes John Connor's father. Thus, Sarah Connor could not have even had her son without the machines and the humans meddling with time."

I shook my head, horribly confused. "I don't understand…"

Kagome Keshikaran pulled gently on my arm, catching my attention. "They're trying to say that there are two theories about time travel. One is that time can be rewritten, like in Back To The Future. The other is that time is more forgiving than that, it writes itself and nothing can really be changed. Like in The Terminator."

"And my Kagome?" I looked between the three of them, struggling to try and comprehend what they were trying to say. "She…"

"She traveled through time, Lady Higurashi." Shippo answered me. I was caught between watching his face and staring at his ears as they flicked this way and that. "And she spent a lot of time trying to explain it to us all, but I never understood it until I actually saw the movies she spoke of myself and heard the debates on television." He sighed, "Inuyasha never understood it. He thought Kagome just didn't want to live in the Feudal Era at all."

I felt my heart pounding, rushing in my ears. The lump in my throat seemed to have gotten worse. "Please—was she happy?" I couldn't stand to listen to them discuss these things that sounded so intellectual, so out of touch with the real world around me. So what if Inuyasha never understood these concepts, did anyone really expect him to? Why should it bother my Kagome so much, these theories about time? How did it affect me?

Shinku's sly eyes slid from me to his father, making me shudder.

Shippo's face was stern, refusing to reveal anything to me. "She was as happy as she could be away from her family, Lady Higurashi."

"What is that supposed to _mean?"_ I saw my hands moving, as if by their own separate will, going to grab hold of Shippo, this demon from my daughter's stories turned reality, and stopped them short, trembling. There was more, more that he was withholding, refusing to tell me. Did all of them keep secrets like this? And why?

"It's ok," Kagome Keshikaran said at my side, gently, "Grandpa means she was like anyone else, she had goods and bads. Ups and downs."

Shippo pursed his lips, "Yes, I guess I am saying that—but also, I'm trying to tell you, Lady Higurashi, _why_ I think the well stopped working for her."

"How do those movies, how does time have anything to do with it?" I shook my head, fought with the urge to shake him in frustration.

"We've come to believe—over the years—that your daughter couldn't travel through time anymore because she just didn't belong in this time anymore. She belonged to the Feudal Era, to the shards, to Inuyasha…" he watched me carefully; I could see his eyes skipping over me, looking for a reaction.

I knew it wasn't smart, but I couldn't stop the angry frown that overtook my face. "To Inuyasha…" did everyone believe that was the case? Did everyone worship that half demon the way my daughter had?

Shippo sighed, and I could see Shinku smirking, though when I looked toward him he promptly turned his face away. I felt he was laughing at me for sure. Maybe this was all some terrible prank…I felt my eyes burn.

"It's late, Lady Higurashi—perhaps in the morning, I can speak with you more on this? Would you like a room, to stay the night?" he grinned, trying to ease tension, "I do know how hard it is to scale that overlapping tree on the fence, it must have been very hard for you…"

Kagome Keshikaran had helped me there. I wondered if there were security cameras lining the fence that might've let him see exactly how much trouble I'd had to go to.

"I should get home for Souta, he's on a date but—"

Kagome Keshikaran choked next to me, cackling. I stared at her, feeling a little betrayed by her laughter. She'd been the most comforting of these three people—if I could really call them that—and now she was laughing at me for being concerned about my son. Did they think I was reckless with my children?

"What? What is it?"

When she answered me her eyes were twinkling. "Your son is out on a date with my sister."

My mouth fell open, I stumbled over the words, trying to find something to say. Kari Keshikaran had been the name we'd come across in the phonebook, a single Keshikaran woman living relatively close to us. Kari hadn't been as friendly really with us as Kagome had been. What was the difference, I wondered immediately. "She's your…sister?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, Kari is my big sister. Spitfire."

"Bitch, you mean." Shinku coughed into one hand.

Shippo threw his son a nasty glare and Shinku grinned back before clearing his throat and looking away sheepishly. "There will be no family bashing, got it? Unless, of course, you're going to poke fun at yourself, Shinku. Then it's quite all right. But otherwise, keep your mouth closed."

Shinku's eyes flicked to mine just before he let out another, "Feh."

"Enough!" Shippo yelled, waving his son away. I watched as his arm disturbed the hovering, ghostly lights. They weaved and flickered, rushing away from his movement.

"Kari will take care of your son, Mrs. Higurashi." Kagome spoke quietly next to me, "Stay here with us, we'll show you, we're not all bad—well, Grandfather isn't I know, and neither am I, but Shinku, he's a different story."

For once, Shinku said nothing, but I watched him cross his arms over his chest stubbornly. Then, I must've blinked, because instead of a man before us on the path, there was a massive fox again. It ran ahead on silent paws, heading toward the warm, golden glow of lights from the castle ahead.

"Will you stay the night?" Kagome asked, tugging again on my arm, much like my own Kagome had when she was a child, begging me for a toy…

I blinked away the pesky tears, steeling myself away from the old pains. "I suppose…" I found myself staring at Shippo's face, open and warm, though I could see the lively twinkle in his eyes, the sure sign of a mischievous nature underneath it all.

"You won't regret it, Lady Higurashi." He bowed a little, smiling gently, "After you have stayed with us a time and met our side of the family—you may well want to meet the rest of them."

"The Tetsuseigas?" I ventured as we began walking again, slowly, down the green-lighted path.

"Yes," he nodded, "And the Taishita family, perhaps…though they're all very…" his face twisted, as if he was tasting or smelling something foul, "They're very cold."

"And the Tetsuseigas, they're really descended from—" I choked trying to say it.

"From your daughter? From your Kagome?" when Shippo looked at me I felt his face was softer than I'd ever seen it thus far, smooth and gentle, filled with some sweet, warm emotion. I knew without any need of words that he was thinking of my Kagome, he was thinking of her as one would a beloved parent.

"Yes."

He nodded again and looked back to the path. "They're all from Kagome Higurashi, your daughter, my lady. But not only her, the other half of them…"

"Half demon." I finished for him, but to my surprise he glanced at me and scowled, as if I'd said or done something wrong. And yet as soon as he made the face it was gone and he was nodding easily again.

"Yes."

I still felt dizzied, as if it were all a dream, even as the ghostly-lit path faded and the brighter lights of the house sprang up and hit my eyes. The door slid open wide before we could quite reach it, and a shadow stood in the door, short, thin, and sporting ears and a bushy tail the same as Shippo. But this was a woman…

"Mother Higurashi," she spoke with an accent I couldn't make out, "Welcome to the Byakko household."

* * *

"You've tried this once." Kagura sneered at her master, her fingernails clicked over the edges of her fan, "Do I need to remind you what happened last time?"

Naraku continued to stare out the castle's screened doorway. The breeze floated in, sweet and fragrant, but Naraku could only scowl at it. "Watch yourself, Kagura. This is all within my plan. I knew and planned that the snake demon I sent after them would fail. It was the action that I needed, not the attempt."

"So you weren't really trying to kill the miko girl?" Kagura rolled her eyes, played a little with her fan. When she smelled the breeze she too scowled, but for a much, much different reason. _How free it is, how beautiful…_bitterness made her sneer even uglier, though her face could have been beautiful if she were smiling. "What will sending the next one do? Another 'planned' failure?"

"He will not attack."

"Then…"

"Leave, Kagura." Naraku ordered, still refusing to turn and look at her. "You are not essential to my plans. I will kill you if you try to interfere with them."

How dumb did he think she was? Kagura was rebellious, but she wasn't stupid. She wanted to survive…

When the wind fluttered the screens again she had to restrain a sigh. Perhaps death really was the only way. She walked out of the room, her bare feet creaking gently over the floorboards. The castle moaned and groaned under the pressure of even the slightest breeze, singing for Kagura's ears. This castle was older than their previous, more isolated.

And the winds never stopped, whether it was just a small breeze or a wild, raging torrent. Part of her wondered if Naraku liked the thought that it must torture her, to hear the wind every day and night, and know that she couldn't be with it, flowing and soaring…

What was Naraku planning, she wondered. He was sending out a tiny lizard demon, Eki. The lizard had budded off Naraku during one of his transformations, when the hodge-podge of smaller demons that made him could be separated, and one or another weeded out and freed. Such was how Kagura and Kanna had come to be born. Now Naraku sent out tiny, harmless Eki after the troublesome hanyou Inuyasha and the other Shard-hunters.

But why? Eki was so small, he posed no threat.

And why had Naraku ordered the snake demon out to poison the miko if he'd known all the while that it would fail? Kagura had sensed failure in it as well, right from the beginning, and she'd hoped Naraku was losing his edge. Yet if it was true and he'd known the snake demon would fail, then why? Why send it out only to fail? What had its attack facilitated?

She prayed that Naraku had lost his wits, spilled his marbles. If he became sloppy he could ensure his own downfall, and in his death, she would at last be free.

The first thing she would do, she plotted, would be to obliterate the castle that whistled in the breeze, tormenting her. She flicked her wrist just thinking about the attacks it would take…

She smiled, letting the bitterness, at least for a few moments, leave her.

* * *


	25. Kouga 2

**A/N: **After a long, long absence (SORYY!!) I am BACK!! I hope you enjoy. This was written both tonight and some time ago, so I hope it holds up to your expectations...

**Disc: Do not own him. **

* * *

**Chapter Review: (Family Names:** **Byakko** is Shippo's family. **Taishita** is still up in the air. **Tetsusaiga** family are Kagome Higurashi and Inuyasha's supposed offspring. **Keshikarans** are the descendents of IY and Kagome's first daughter who married some other guy.) **Mrs. Kira Higurashi **was brought to meet adult **Shippo** by **Kagome Keshikaran.** She met **Shinku,** Shippo's youngest son. Also we will briefly meet **Cher Byakko,** Shippo's wife and mother of **Shinku and Aka,** Aka being Kagome Keshikaran and **Kari Keshikaran's** mother. **Souta** is out on a date with **Kari Keshikaran.** **Myoga **stopped in and scared **IY** with the news that **Kagome** isn't normal anymore with the link. She will share his lifespan and Myoga revealed the link connection in majorly established to turn a demon couple into parents. **Naraku** sent the demon lizard **Eki** out on some mission.)

**

* * *

Kouga 2**

Kagome was stirring, back in the miner's camp. Inuyasha could feel her body rhythms picking up, her thoughts rousing sluggishly. Frantically, he pushed half-dreams at her, trying to induce a last-ditch set of REM sleep. Anything to keep her too groggy to know what he was up to.

The soil under his clawed fingers was rich smelling, nearly overwhelming his fine olfactory senses. It was a difficult task to discern any of the little, fragile plants—leaves, roots, stems, and seeds—from one another when all he could smell were the earth scents. Pill bugs squirmed and writhed away from his intruding claws, ants came forward bravely, pinching mandibles spread wide and ready to deal damage.

As a pup, newly orphaned, Inuyasha had nearly survived on such tiny, squirming delicacies for a week or so. Larger prey was harder for grief-stricken, clumsy young half demons to hunt. And, even worse, it required him to act competitively with larger youkai, the kind that thought of him as food. Now, in his prime with a massive reputation to boot, it seemed almost mocking to the hanyou that he was back, pawing at the dirt for something to eat.

But there was a major difference in the situation now: Inuyasha wasn't here eating to survive, he was here to drug himself.

A few small, round leaves with jagged edges stood out then, and Inuyasha paused, squinting his amber eyes down at them. Tiny orange berries clung to the undersides of the little plant. Inuyasha squished them between his fingers indelicately and brought them up close to his nose. After a few sniffs he wrinkled his face and flicked the pasty stuff away. He'd found what he was looking for.

Grunting, Inuyasha grabbed up the whole plant with one fist and forced it into his mouth. The bitter taste clammed up his mouth, the dirt was more appetizing even as it gritted between his molars. Another of the same type, with the orange berries, caught his eye, and Inuyasha grabbed it up too and shoved it in.

The plants were poisonous, berries as well as the full body of the plant. As a pup Inuyasha had discovered this fact by eating the berries. He'd spent the next few hours in agony. Whatever was toxic in them probably would have killed a human, but because of his dual heritage Inuyasha had survived the encounter with the poison. Now he was inducing that agony deliberately, and in greater amounts by eating not just the berries, but the whole plant.

Sunlight pierced through the trees at a low angle, glaring and intense. A few birds began squawking in loud, raucous voices. So much for songbirds greeting the morning. These were angry birds complaining to one another that there was a potential threat in their midst: Inuyasha. The hanyou, for his part, ignored them.

A third plant, and then a fourth, hurriedly. In the camp Kagome was stirring again, trying to rise with the growing noise of the others, Shippo, Sango, Miroku and Kilala, all around her. Inuyasha was running out of time.

Swallowing, Inuyasha almost gagged. The poisonous plants and their berries slid down his throat in a slimy, congealed mass. The taste, however, stayed thick inside his mouth, and his teeth continued to meet with grit when he mashed them together. He choked on it, nearly vomiting again. Sheer willpower kept his stomach from revolting.

Kagome called out to him, weakly. _Inuyasha…?_

_I'm here._ He knew his answer would be stiff, but perhaps she'd be too sleepy to notice any change…

Her concern reached him and cut off his last hopeful thought mid-sentence. _What's wrong? Where are you?_

If he told her the truth, that Myoga had come to visit him—and basically told him that the purpose of their link was to aid them while they raised pups—then Kagome would probably panic in some way or another. He knew that she thought of herself as too young for things like marriage or children, despite the fact that she was now living in the Feudal Era. He wasn't about to start worrying her with it—or himself for that matter. _His_ _offspring_ weren't something he wanted anyone burdened with. But because of the mating season and his new status as a mated inuhanyou, Inuyasha was well-aware that he couldn't stop the newly awakened primal urges of his demonic side.

There was only one sure way to deal with the problem of control: he'd make himself sick.

But he didn't want to tell Kagome any of this. It would only frighten her or hurt her, so the hanyou searched himself frantically for a lie that would convince Kagome.

_Cabin fever._ He lied, trying to shield the tension he felt away from Kagome's consciousness. Those two words were a nice little excuse he'd found within her "Modern Era" vocabulary.

_I had to get out—_he pushed his sensory information at her, the smell of trees, soil, the squawking birds and the piercing sunlight—_check the territory._

She accepted that, although he sensed lingering doubt as well. A slow longing came from Kagome, fierce and full, as she pushed aside anything else but her desire to be near him. _You don't feel bad about last night, do you?_

The previous night Inuyasha had been unable to restrain himself. Kagome had actually purified him with her priestess's magic for a few hours to give him control again. Her question now, aimed at him with concern, stung sharply.

_I'm fine, don't worry about it. I'll be back soon._

Kagome withdrew slightly, distracted as Sango knelt by her sleeping bag and began asking something. Inuyasha, grateful for the distraction, found himself still staring at the dirt, pill bugs, ants, and spiders crawling all over the open soil. Scowling, he trotted off with his nose to the wind, searching for water to wash himself off with. As soon as that was finished, the hanyou would head back to the miners' camp and rejoin Kagome.

Problem fixed, for now…

* * *

As I entered the circle of light on the stairs and the porch cast by the house, I could see that the woman before me was pale, so pale I felt sure she must've been an albino. Yet as she stepped aside, smiling the same crafty smile as Shinku, I caught the color of her eyes. They were inky black, and her gaze glittered with intelligence. 

"Welcome." She grinned again at me, but her eyes were staring past me at Shippo. "My husband is always so full of stories about your daughter. And of the dog demon too."

Her words were twisted with an accent, and the more I heard her speak I was certain she was Russian. Even as I tried to bow to her and offer my thanks for her compliments, I was filled with confusion.

"Gramma," Kagome Keshikaran murmured, slipping past me to stand beside the pale skinned, dark eyed woman, "You forgot to introduce yourself!"

The woman snorted and I watched as her ears flicked about on her head. Her hair was thin but puffy, and naturally blonde. The strands seemed so delicate they might snap or float in the wind, like spider webs. I knew I was staring even before the woman, Kagome Keshikaran's grandmother I gathered, threw me a warning glare.

"I'm afraid my Japanese may be a bit coarse." The woman grumbled, looking between me and Shippo at my side. I noted that there was not a shred of apology in her tone. She apparently was unashamed of her inability, but I could understand her so there was nothing to complain about.

Shippo made a noise in his throat, startling me. It was a sound that made me think of a dog, like a bark, but it wasn't a bark exactly. Rather it was a snorting noise, deep in his throat. I doubted that I could imitate it with my human vocal cords. He stepped forward, slipping out of his shoes as he came, and I stumbled backwards fearfully. Kagome Keshikaran caught my arm, stabilizing me. Her eyes flashed when she looked between me and Shippo as he squeezed past.

_She has the same eyes as they do. _Again I was swamped by the feeling that this was a foreign place, not as in a different country or culture, but a whole other _world._ It was an immortal world, a world of _kami._ I didn't belong in their midst. Surely I was breaking some law of the natural world. Perhaps the blonde Russian woman knew this and was upset at Shippo for bringing me there.

"Cher." Shippo muttered, his voice very low. My own panic was still thick inside but Kagome Keshikaran, as if feeling that, squeezed my arm a few times, rhythmically. Slowly my alarm dissipated, replaced by fascination as I saw Shippo and the Russian kitsune arguing.

"Husband?" her voice was lowered now, as were her white ears, but the dark eyes were bright and fierce.

"Why are you being difficult?" Shippo growled.

The woman glanced swiftly at me and I felt, despite the black color of her irises, that she was a creature of cold and calculation. I could see a lot of Shinku in her, a playful but harsh nature—a duplicity that made her a survivor. There was something hard in her character that frightened me.

Her gaze didn't leave me when she answered Shippo. "We've had a call from Lord Taishita himself."

Shippo's ears fell backward. He and his blonde wife now looked alike suddenly. The woman was nearly the same height, and except for her fairer complexion and female form, they might've been siblings. After hundreds of years living with the other it didn't surprise me.

I didn't dare ask anything about whoever this Lord Taishita was, I could see easily that it was something negative by the way they were both so tense.

"_He _called?" Kagome asked, "Gramma, _he_ called you?"

"He called looking for Shippo." She grumbled, throwing Shippo a scowl. When she spoke next it was not in Japanese, it must've been Russian. At first I thought she was cursing in her native tongue, but I quickly realized that she was actually speaking to Shippo.

And Shippo could understand her. Kagome Keshikaran and I couldn't.

I must have looked very distressed over this because Kagome squeezed my arm, drawing my attention to her instead. "It's okay Lady Higurashi. Gramma Cher is from Russia. It's just easier for her to speak it to Granpa."

"Who is Taishita?" I blurted.

Kagome bit her lip. "I don't know if I'm allowed to tell you."

Heat swept over my face and through my body. I looked down at my feet, noticing the floorboards, the surface by the door so smooth by the passage of feet over the long years. How long had the foxes inhabited this place? How old was this Russian Cher? How old was Shinku and Kagome Keshikaran's kitsune mother? Why were there so many secrets between these families? Why would the family with my own daughter's descendents not want to see me?

Had these scuffed floors seen my Kagome come and go over them?

"Damned old dog."

I looked up, startled by the Russian kitsune's abruptness. She'd spat the words out, harshly, but though she was talking about a dog she was looking at me. I stumbled a little, feeling the panic building within me again.

"Kira," Kagome Keshikaran called, softly this time, reassuring me, "It's alright."

"Who does she mean?" I stuttered, trying to stare at the Russian woman without seeming to. The last thing I wanted to do was offend one of them, these immortal spirits, creatures that I'd scarcely dared to believe in as a child myself…and now they were glaring at me and dragging me into their homes. I remembered the old tales of kitsunes, luring in unwary human beings to their deaths at the hands of some trickery…

"I think I should leave." I tried to push Kagome's grip from me but though her hands came free I felt another set, pale and cold, land on my other shoulder.

When I looked over I met the Russian's black-eyed gaze. "I answer your question." She frowned, "Taishita is a dog. Old angry dog."

Shippo sighed loudly from behind her. "Lady Higurashi. I'm sorry for all this trouble, I'm sorry for my wife's hostility. She…isn't fond of dog demon clans, of any nationality. And Taishita is—" he stopped for a moment, scowling and apparently looking for the right word to use, "—difficult. My wife has informed me that he has called and asked about you. He's heard word from the Tetsusaigas that you're searching for them. He may send a representative to see you in the morning."

"Oh no—is he going to send a human? Or is he going to send his toad?"

A shock passed through me. _His toad._ I looked between their faces, curious. I remembered my Kagome's stories about an old dog, an old, proud, stubborn and difficult dog. A very powerful dog that sometimes troubled her and Inuyasha while they hunted for the shards of the Shikon. And he was often accompanied by a small toad-like creature.

"Sesshomaru?"

Kagome Keshikaran, Shippo, and even the Russian woman stopped all talking and turned wide, shocked eyes on me.

* * *

_Inuyasha? Are you sure you're okay?_

Kagome stayed close by him as they walked, staring up at the hanyou with a worried, almost motherly gaze. She spoke aloud as well as just within his mind, practically begging a response from him. But the only answers she got were stiff and usually consisted of a grunt and a gruff, "Stop being a pest about everything Kagome! I'm not a baby like Shippo!"

The kitsune took offence to that. He hovered on either Miroku or Sango's shoulders, muttering to himself irritably or staring after the couple walking ahead with his own concerned gaze. He understood something strange was going on, but he didn't dare ask the hanyou himself. Miroku and Sango walked side by side, also quietly watching the interacting couple ahead of them.

For respect of the couple's privacy, the other members of the group had taken to walking further away from them, trailing. The pace Inuyasha had set for that day, only an hour or so after they'd awoken and set out from the night spent at the miners' camp, was slow and gradual. It was almost too slow, a pace that Inuyasha rarely accepted while they were traveling. Miroku, Sango, and Kagome normally had to move swiftly on their legs to keep up a steady walking pace with the hanyou. Today they moved so slowly it was almost possible to pass by the disgruntled hanyou.

It seemed that most often, if the pace was this slow, someone was either injured, or direly distracted with other matters. It seemed, from the quiet grumping coming from Inuyasha, that it was the latter of those two possibilities.

"Things were going so well for them," Sango murmured shaking her head.

Miroku sighed loudly, glancing between Shippo on his shoulder and Sango wearily. "Maybe it's better if they…"

Sango was nodding before the monk had finished his sentence. "Naraku, yes." Her lips were smashed firmly together into a thin white line of unhappiness. "There won't be any living with them then."

Shippo squirmed down nervously into Miroku's shoulder and whispered, "Inuyasha's sick."

That got looks from all of the travelers around him, Sango, Miroku and Kilala. There was a silence before Miroku asked, "Are you sure?"

Shippo nodded. His green eyes were locked very carefully on the hanyou's backsides up ahead.

"Is Kagome—"

"Kagome's fine." Shippo answered Sango's question even before she'd voiced all of it. "It's just Inuyasha. He's been poisoned."

The alarmed expressions passed over both Miroku and Sango's faces like thick thunderclouds blotting out the sunlight. On the ground, voicing her own opinion to agree with Shippo's, Kilala mewed mournfully and leapt onto Sango's shoulder.

Ahead of them one of Inuyasha's white dog ears twisted backward, hearing his name one too many times. Shippo tensed and froze on Miroku's shoulder, fearfully.

Unaware of Inuyasha's attention on their conversation, Miroku asked, "Will he be alright?"

There was an irritated growling from inside the hanyou's throat that immediately caught everyone's ears. "I'd be fine if you idiots would stop asking stupid questions!"

"Inuyasha—" Kagome reached for his long red sleeve, clearly scolding, but he made a sound that was something like "Feh" and pulled away. Stiffly, and with clear effort, the hanyou sped up somewhat, leaping once to gain distance. Normally, after a little spat he would have jumped several times, until he was nearly out of sight further along the road. But, confirming Shippo's diagnosis, this day the hanyou didn't bother exerting the extra effort to make his point.

For a short time the group walked on, silently, contemplating the events that had just unfolded. The sunlight was growing hazy as the day wore on, oddly enough. There were a few wispy clouds in the sky, and the temperature was climbing higher, as was the humidity. The days of high, hot summer were still lingering. There was no sign of rain clouds anywhere in the sky. Breaking the monotony of walking in such weather, the Shard-hunters were thankful for the occasional breeze that floated through, refreshing and gentle.

Then, as the humans and the small demons of the group topped one particularly large hill, they saw that Inuyasha had vanished from in front of them. Kagome, having reached the top first, stood still, staring out at the road ahead of them. Her brown eyes narrowed, not with emotion at the disappearance, but with concentration as she reached out and prodded the link she shared with their leader.

_Inuyasha?_

The link was thick with the hanyou's misery. Kagome hadn't needed a demon's nose to understand that he was sick. She could feel ripples of his pain stirring in her own guts, sympathy pains brought on by the link. As she'd walked beside him Kagome had easily noticed that the half demon was pale, with heavy gray encircling his eyes, a mark of suffering. Topping it all off was the fact that she could see the sweat beading on his brow. He'd told her that he'd eaten something that hadn't agreed with him—but she knew there was more to it than that, so she'd pestered him. And, as could be predicted, Inuyasha stormed off.

"Where'd he go?" Sango stood beside Kagome, shielding her eyes with one hand from the afternoon sunlight overhead and holding a dozing Kilala with the other.

"He's sick." Kagome answered, frowning. She could feel her mate's stomach convulsing through the link, and her own fluttered sickeningly in response. Yes, he was certainly sick all right. Inuyasha's retreat made more sense to her now: he was somewhere out of earshot, vomiting.

"Is he…" Sango stared at Kagome with a nervous, worried look, as if they were talking about cancer rather than stomach ailments. With the half demon maybe they were. Inuyasha wasn't prone to illness…

Kagome tucked away that little nugget of worry with a frown. She tugged on the link again, and still found only physical misery. _Inuyasha? Please, is there anything I can do to—_

She stopped, her attention suddenly absorbed by a dust cloud that had appeared in the distance. Miroku and Sango had stepped ahead and were pointing it out to one another. Shippo and Kilala, both on the ground now, had toddled up behind the humans curiously.

As a little waft of breeze floated through their area, brought from the little whirl of dust down the road, Kagome noticed it came with a scent. The smell was thick and musty, or it would have been if she'd smelled it more directly rather than on a breeze. Even so the scent left her feeling uncomfortable. She shifted from one foot to the other, suddenly looking around for Inuyasha with an urgency she didn't understand.

The smell—it _meant_ something to her. It brought a meaning, a feeling.

She saw Kilala snort and back away, sheltering behind Sango's green skirted legs. Shippo, meanwhile, leapt onto Miroku's shoulder, slipping a little to bump into the monk's staff, making it jangle. Shippo too was sniffing at the wind. Kagome couldn't see the kit's face, but she did see his little ears fold backwards. When he spoke his findings they didn't surprise Kagome, even though they should have.

"It's Kouga."

There was a second of silence as Miroku and Sango took in the dust cloud and Shippo's announcement. Then they moaned and turned in unison to shelter Kagome from the coming disaster. In previous visits by the wolf youkai the Shard-hunters—with the ever present exception of Inuyasha, would have tolerated Kouga's arrival with more acceptance. If they had to choose a youkai to meet on the road it was certainly preferable to run into Kouga rather than some very hungry, bloodthirsty spider demon. But now Kouga was regarded differently, since he had tried to forcibly take Kagome away from them the last time.

Now that they knew she had "consummated" her link with Inuyasha, the question remained, how would Kouga react?

Sango was squeezing Kagome's forearm reassuringly, shaking her slightly for emphasis. "Kagome, we won't let anything happen to you, whether Inuyasha is here or not."

The slayer's brown eyes were fierce even through the warmth she clearly felt for Kagome. She stared past the schoolgirl, looking to Miroku and Shippo. In front of them Kilala had taken up a defensive position, ready to transform into her larger form if the need arose. Looking at them Kagome was filled with comfort and a strength of her own at how well the group functioned. They were like a family all on their own, each with his or her own purpose, and each united to take a stand for one of its members.

All but Inuyasha.

The dust cloud drew closer, bringing with it an increase in the wind. Shippo coughed and spluttered on Miroku's shoulder, but the monk moved his staff, letting Shippo use it as a sort of rail to support himself and keep his balance while he choked. Kilala's fur bristled and she shook, dislodging the dust before it could accumulate. The humans squinted their eyes, frowning.

And then, abruptly, the wind and the dust vanished. The air was clear, though the sun was still hazy at its zenith. The day might've been normal and almost perfect again, if not for what the wind and the dust had left behind in their wake.

The arrogant Kouga, with his smug grin and bright blue eyes, was left in front of them. His first expression was one of confidence as he regarded the Shard-hunters, though his stance was stiff—he likely expected Inuyasha to attack him immediately. But when he gave the group a once-over and saw nothing of his enemy, the dreaded hanyou, Kouga's arrogant smirk was shaken slightly. The blue eyes roved not over the group then, but over the countryside around them.

It was while he was still looking about for his rival that Kouga at last addressed Kagome and the group. "Hey Kagome, I came back for you—just like I said I would. I'm loyal like that, unlike a lot of other stinking dogs I know…"

The wolf prince turned back to Kagome when he'd finished speaking and grinned a little too wide, a little too cocky. His tail flicked back and forth behind him. "I don't see mutt-face anywhere…?"

The Shard-hunters were silent, meeting Kouga's every word with stiffness. The moment stretched out uncomfortably, until Kagome lost her patience and finally broke it by stepping outside of Miroku and Sango's protective line, facing Kouga more directly.

"I'm sorry Kouga," she started, carefully but with conviction, "I know you're thinking you've come to take me away but—I'm staying here. With my friends." She changed her tone minutely, giving the next two words deeper meaning. "With Inuyasha."

The gentler gleam in Kouga's eyes flashed, instantly changing from friendly to deadly. Though he might've been sweet to Kagome in the past, there was no denying that he wasn't human, at his core he was the wolf youkai, and among wolves disputes were settled with violence and blood. The strongest male was the victor, always. And the female had no say in the matter.

"I don't see dog shit anywhere to stand up for you." Kouga took a step forward, stiff and menacing. He had eyes only for Kagome, the other Shard-hunters were as good as invisible to him. "I can smell his stink here, but he sure as hell ain't here to defend you."

The wolf demon's blue eyes narrowed, dark and intense, "Why would you try to stay with mutt-face?"

He was coming closer, and Kagome could see his nostrils flaring, seeking her scent. A flutter of fear made her stumble backwards, like a clumsy puppy. But it was too late; Kouga had gotten what he wanted to know. He stopped a few short yards from her, tense and focused and unblinking.

And then his handsome face twisted into a thick, hateful sneer. "So dog shit claimed you, did he?" Kouga withdrew slightly and spat, disgustedly, "And now the coward is off hiding from it, eh?"

"No, Inuyasha is sick—he hasn't left any of us." Miroku stepped forward to stand more directly at Kagome's side. Kilala and Sango followed suit, the tiny fire cat growled warningly at the slayer's feet, ready for battle.

"He's sick?" Kouga echoed, suddenly appearing a little too interested in the hanyou's welfare. A slow look of cunning entered his eyes.

"Hey! You leave Inuyasha alone! You—you big stinky wolf!"

Kouga turned an almost startled expression on the kit that had spoken, and then grinned leeringly, showing teeth that appeared unusually sharp to the Shard-hunters. "What was that?"

Shippo squirmed and whimpered on Miroku's shoulder, trying to hide behind the monk's rather narrow neck. He might've started taking back his words in the interest of self-preservation, but at that moment Kagome stepped up, her face twisted in anger.

"Kouga," she half-growled, sounding not unlike some female version of Inuyasha, _"I want you to leave!"_

The wolf prince snorted and turned his nose to the wind, sniffing and snorting. "You don't have a say in this, Kagome. You're human and he's a mongrel, neither of you understand real youkai—but you will." The smile he offered was entirely feral, wild in a way that made Kagome's intestines coil in on themselves, like snakes.

Mere weeks ago, in fact only days ago, Kagome would've felt helplessness close over her, like water sucking her into its depths for drowning. Yet now, rather than panic or fear or helplessness, she felt her muscles stiffening and the tiny hairs all over her body stood on end. She didn't back away from the wolf prince; in fact she started to step forward.

Moving protectively, Sango, Miroku, Kilala and Shippo all stepped forward as well, but Kagome pushed them back firmly. Strained, almost panicked expressions covered the faces of the humans, but the demons obeyed unquestioningly.

"I'm _not going with you."_ Kagome muttered in a surprisingly quiet but strong tone.

Kouga shifted on his heel, turning to face her. One of his thick, black eyebrows was raised curiously. "Kagome?" he grunted.

"I'm not going with you." Kagome repeated, sternly. "Go away and leave us alone."

Kouga's blue eyes flashed dangerously. His body language changed, stiffening once more. He turned so that Kagome could see the full expanse of his strong, muscular chest. It was a stance he'd often used when he was posturing with Inuyasha, but never before had he used it on Kagome. Now he regarded the human female as he might an enemy.

"You don't have a choice, little bitch."

Kagome nearly winced at the term he'd used, but instincts she hadn't known she possessed forced her to react like stone. If she flinched and showed him weakness now she'd be taken away from the others, from Inuyasha. Inuyasha would never let her go, she knew that was true, but the next meeting between these rivals would be to the death and Kagome wasn't truly interested in risking that.

She tugged on her link again, probing Inuyasha and felt a surge of strength and relief as she realized that he was coming, rushing with everything he had to aid her.

Kouga took a step closer, stiff and fierce. Words were a human tool; posture and energy were the tools of canine demons. Kouga understood Kagome's challenge of his dominance, and he refused to let her get away with it. One small movement of weakness would undermine everything and allow him to scoop her up and take her away for good.

The others waited tensely, uncertain of what was happening. They were all ready to spring in defense of Kagome, should she need it.

With a snarl, Kouga moved forward, almost as if he'd attack Kagome. The lighter, more agile young woman twisted away from him with more speed than he'd anticipated. With his first lunge ending in failure, Kouga pulled out all the stops. Whirling around to face her again, he raced toward her again, prepared to pick her up and simply cart her away this time—hopefully before the demon slayer, the monk, and the small demons tried to stop him.

But when he took hold of her—with his speed it wasn't hard to do—a shock of energy like electricity passed through him. It set every pain receptor in his arms and up into his shoulders, neck, and head, alive with fiery pain. He cried out and let go of her, stumbling some distance backward. Kagome, meanwhile, stayed standing, though her arms were shaking and her knees wobbled away underneath her. Along her skin every tiny hair was raised, flickering with waves of her hidden priestesses' magic. In the dark she might've glowed like some bioluminescent fish from a deep sea rift. In the hazy afternoon sunlight the pulsing energy was unseen, though Kagome could feel it coursing through her body more acutely than ever before.

Sango and Shippo immediately ran towards Kagome, taking up defensive positions even as they inundated her with worried questions. Miroku kept his silence for the moment and instead stood between Kagome and the wolf prince, ready to take the prayer beads away from his hands to use the powerful winds of his cursed hand. Kilala growled and transformed in a ball of flame, taking a position next to the monk.

Kouga was recovering with unusual slowness. He shook his head and tripped over his own furred feet as he tried to get up. The posturing rage of moments before had dissipated. He had yet to even register the world outside his own pain.

Circumstances refused to give him the time he needed to recover. Luck it seemed was not on his side that day.

"Kouga!" a shout from the trees to the group's right made everyone stare as Inuyasha appeared. The hanyou was wasting no time in rescuing Kagome now that he was here. There was no pause for the exchange of insults. There was no outbreak of posturing. Instead there was just the roar of the Tetsusaiga as it unleashed Inuyasha's fury on the wolf prince.

Kouga had time enough only to drop down and roll, avoiding the main brunt of the blast. Kagome's purifying energy had as good as drugged him, sapping his own demonic energy. The effect made him horribly slow and weak. Though Inuyasha wasn't in top form either, the chances were still against the wolf. Inuyasha as a half demon shouldn't have been able to match Kouga ever, and yet Inuyasha was as fierce an opponent as any full blooded youkai.

Those basic calculations passed through his mind at about the same time as the Tetsusaiga's blow hit him. The windscar tore at his flesh, at his clothes. The wounds were painful, but not serious. Yet the first blood shed in this battle was already his own, and he was too weak to face an enraged mate. Inuyasha was no longer just a stinky half dog-demon, he was now a creature with a mate to care for, and that mate had been threatened. Among canines the worst crimes another could commit was to threaten a member of the family or the pack.

As the blow passed Kouga gritted his teeth, facing the inevitable. He had to relinquish the battle, surrender, or run away. All outcomes were dishonorable, but they were preferable to dying at the hands of half-demon scum.

In the dust left swirling by the windscar, Inuyasha raced forward, screeching with rage. "Kouga! Wolf shit! Where the hell—"

Kouga's scent was around in the dust, the faint odor of blood. That coaxed Inuyasha on, frenziedly. "Come out coward! Wolf shit!" he spat at the ground, panting and cringed at the taste of vomit in his mouth, still stuck in a few places in his mouth.

The dust slowly diffused out into the already hazy air, taking Kouga's scent with it. Inuyasha trotted around the area, Tetsusaiga still drawn and at the ready. The Shard-hunters waited in the distance, silent and waiting for Inuyasha to realize that Kouga had gone, vanishing as suddenly as he'd appeared.

At long last the hanyou stopped with his back to the others, stiffening. His shoulders heaved as he breathed heavily. His fingers, where they clasped Tetsusaiga, were unusually pale. His guts still writhed and clenched with the remnants of the poison he'd self-medicated himself with earlier.

And yet, in the back of his mind, he could feel Kagome again, worried and shaken. He could sense the magic about her, stirred by her need to defend herself, by her need to stay with him…

He wanted Kouga back so that he could fight the wolf, tear him to shreds, rip him apart with his bloodthirsty claws. It would be for revenge, in defense of Kagome who was so completely his—and it would be a release, a way to avoid the longing that was swarming over him with every second that passed bringing them closer to nightfall again.

He needed control, but the poison hadn't worked. His body had rejected the stuff and was swiftly recovering. What would Kagome think, if she'd glimpsed the animal side of him, uncontrolled and ever-hungry? She'd be terrified, just as he himself was terrified of it.

She tickled the edges of his mind. _Inuyasha? Are you okay? He's gone. I wouldn't let him take me…_

There were no words that came to his mind in response, but he allowed his mind to latch onto hers, curling around it like a mother dog around her nursing puppies. For now his fatigue controlled his desire, the remaining pain in his stomach kept his body unresponsive. But later he would be unable to resist the invisible call that Kagome had on him. He would be out of control, no better than his wild, blood-craving full demon form.

That knowledge shamed him.

Slowly, with sagging shoulders and drooping ears, he grunted to the others, "Let's go."

The Shard-hunters began walking again, but this time Inuyasha lead them by a great distance, alone with his troubled thoughts, and shielding them from a very confused and worried Kagome.

* * *

Slithering along in the underbrush of the forest alongside the road, a small ugly brown lizard traveled parallel to the Shard-hunters. He had a keen sense of miko's energy emanating from the group. It was imbedded strongly in one of the two beings he was supposed to watch most carefully over. The human female who carried the Shikon jewel around her neck. 

It was a careful game of cat and mouse that the miko didn't know was being played. The lizard demon—Eki—knew he had to stay just outside of the miko's senses. As a tiny demon, with a body only about the size of a man's index finger, he exerted such a tiny amount of energy that he could approach the Shard-hunters much closer than other, larger demons. Also he because he was seemingly too small to be a threat, the miko might mistaken him for one of the smaller demons traveling with them—the kitsune or the fire cat.

His sharp, multiple senses were really what set him apart—that and his link to his master, Naraku.

_They are on the move, Master. They move slowly. The hanyou is ill, but beyond his illness he is consumed by lust, besot by instinct. The miko is stressed and distracted. The others are confused, Master. An attack now would make them easy fodder…_

As the sun climbed higher Eki got his response swiftly.

_Stay quiet. It is not yet time. Continue as you are._

The lizard did not question his master. He didn't have enough intelligence really to do so. He continued to slither and slip through the weeds and leaf litter.

_Yes, Master. _

_Eki,_ Naraku called through the tiny demon's thoughts, making him freeze, awaiting the latest updated command. _You must always remain submissive. Do not ever pose them a threat. And Eki…_

The lizard cocked his head, straining to hear and understand the order that was coming through the psychic airwaves.

_Watch the miko carefully. When her scent or her energies change let me know. _

* * *


	26. Discussion

**A/N: THIS IS THE 2nd OF TWO UPDATES! I believe that chapter 25 was never sent out to those of you with subscriptions to this story b/c I never got an email verification of chapter 25 which I posted yesterday. So if you haven't read Kouga 2 you probably should...**

**Disc: I don't own him.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Review: (this chapter has no Mrs. H in it b/c I felt I had to wrap some things up with the feudal era gang. Kouga 2 had Mrs. H development. Family names are reviewed there.) Last chapter:** Inuyasha drugged himself because he's afraid of losing control with Kagome because of the mating season that Myoga warned him about. He orverdid it a little though and his body rejected the poisons at a most inopportune moment, right when Kouga decided to sweep in and steal Kagome. Kagome was left to make a stand for herself and her right to choose mates. Eki, Naraku's lizard demon spy, is following the Shard-hunters and reporting on their status.

**

* * *

Discussion **

It was a cold mountain river that they camped near that night. The evening was humid. Dew collected on the grass and made the rocks alongside the river slippery. The water was shockingly cold, setting Sango and Kagome to shivering when they ducked their heads below the surface.

Whether it was because of the cold or because of recent events, something had put a wedge between Sango and Kagome's normal ease of conversation. The girls smiled with one another, commented on casual things such as the chill of the water, or the beauty of the night and the pleasant warmth of the day, but they didn't start talking properly for quite some time.

By the time a subject was broached tentatively, by Sango, both girls were almost done with the bath and they were shivering feverishly.

"S-s-s-so, Kagome." Sango paused, trying to master her breathing as well as to check for peeping toms. She stood a short ways out of the water, using one hand to cover her breasts, and then splashed a little, trying to warm up. "H-h-how have y-you been?"

Kagome avoided Sango's gaze. She wasn't sure how to respond to the demon slayer. Although they were close friends and Sango was well-aware of Kagome's feelings for Inuyasha, she wasn't sure what to say to her about the most recent events. It went without saying that Sango and Miroku and even the two demons knew that their relationship had changed dramatically. They had moved from years of denial into a slow acceptance and at last the final step of physical consummation.

It was the physical part of it that Kagome was uncomfortable sharing. "I…" she let her voice trail away, though her teeth continued to chatter with shivering.

Sango lowered herself back into the water, wincing as the chill took hold of her again. "Are you h-happy?" she asked simplifying things for her.

"It's new." Kagome blurted. When she closed her eyes she felt her stomach knotting up as she let a few memories rush over her. Yes, she was happy when Inuyasha held her in his arms, and yet it also stressed her because it was new and untested and she was far, far away from home.

The remembered pain of the closed well, of her lost family—her mother, Souta, Gramps, even Buyo—it burned and ached within her. She made a whimpering sound and suddenly some of her shivering wasn't cold induced.

There was a slurry of water and Sango was there beside her, holding onto her shoulders. "Shhh—it's okay, Kagome. Inuyasha l-loves y-y-you a lot. D-demons aren't l-l-letches l-like M-Miroku."

That drew a small laugh from Kagome. She rested the tip of her chin and her nose onto Sango's shoulder, drawn by the heat of her friend's body. "It's n-not that. I j-just…"

"Let's g-get out of this w-water, kay?" Sango smiled at her and led her out of the water carefully, guiding her around the slippery stones on the bank. They listened acutely as they gathered up their clothes, trying to catch Miroku at his usual lechery if they could.

"Is Inuyasha at the camp?"

Kagome sighed. "Yes, and Miroku is too."

Sango grinned, though her teeth were still chattering. "I l-like this link. You always know w-where they are now."

"Yes," Kagome smiled genuinely with that, "It's been wonderful."

"Is it equal now? Before I know Inuyasha used to block you out…"

"He's trying to hide something from me right now," she grumbled, "But it's much better than it was." Kagome pulled on a thick robe that the miners from their last stop had donated to them. Without being able to go home and wash and repair her normal clothes from the 21st century, Kagome was beginning to find holes and stains in them that she couldn't fix. Out of a desire to preserve them for simple memory value she'd resolved to wear whatever the people of the time wore. Despite how she felt inwardly, and how she'd been raised, if she was going to be stuck living out the rest of her life with them she might as well start dressing the same way.

Sango too was now mostly dressed. She combed through her hair with her fingertips and twisted it, squeezing out the extra water. "At least you and Inuyasha are feeling better now." she scowled and turned her face away. The moonlight missed her face, painting it in shadow and hiding the slayer's expression from Kagome. "You used to get sick at the same time as one other without reason; we were all very worried about you. Miroku actually went to research it while we were at temple visiting Master Saishi."

Kagome's interest was piqued. "What did he find?" there was _something_ that Inuyasha wasn't telling her…was it possible that Sango knew about it?

"Well, not too much really. But I suppose you know already that the link lets you share things? Including the illnesses. He was sick today…"

"I felt it, yes." Kagome responded to the unspoken question. "I don't know what was wrong with him." she scowled at the ground, still thinking about it.

"The only other thing he said he found of interest was youkai mating seasons." Sango threw the young miko a skittish, embarrassed glance and then cleared her throat. "We're probably in it right about now. Inuyoukai mate at about this time of—"

"Mating season?" Kagome blurted, staring wide eyed.

Sango bit her lip and looked away, as if suddenly fascinated by the bland darkness of the forest around them. The mountains heaped up on each other in the distance, coated with milky light from the moon above. "Yeah, I'm sorry we didn't tell you sooner…"

Kagome said nothing. She stared at the ground, at her feet in the sandals they'd also acquired for her at the miners' camp. The moonlight made all the tiny pebbles on the ground cast long shadows. She remembered the night before, Inuyasha's inability to control himself, to stop when she'd asked it of him. "Mating season…" she murmured.

Somewhere, when she thought of it herself, Kagome could feel the first inescapable tendrils of longing stirring within her own body. Inuyasha, always tuned to their link, felt her response and snapped to attention. It was as if he were listening and observing, but not sharing. He was carefully trying to control the thoughts and feelings that crossed over to her. It took up most of his energy though, and despite his efforts Kagome could feel inklings the hanyou's restlessness and lust.

"There was also something else Miroku heard, later, after the snake demon…" (**A/N: Sango is trying to tell her about Miroku's rumor from the prostitute Mikata, about Naraku's plan.)**

Kagome heard her friend's words but didn't process them; in fact she had no interest in them at all. Her thoughts were with Inuyasha, dwelling on the thought of a mating season. Was that what had drawn them together in the first place? She felt a small, but growing ripple of fear pass through her.

"Sango?" she asked, interrupting Sango's other words without hearing them. "Is that the only reason he…" she hated the fear and weakness in her voice; she sounded like a whimpering, frightened child.

The demon slayer sighed heavily and tied back her long, wet hair. She stepped in to walk beside Kagome, taking her hand and squeezing it as she did so. "He choose the link, Kagome. He choose it. And I wouldn't worry about it. Inuyasha hasn't been like I imagined he would be. He isn't even comparable to Miroku yet!" She chuckled darkly, "You've never seen youkai in mating season before! They don't do much else! Inuyasha hasn't been bad at all."

* * *

Back in the camp Inuyasha sensed that the girls were finished bathing. He stirred from his slouched position against a massive pine tree and leapt up into its branches, hiding amidst the needles like a cat.

Miroku blinked blearily, stirring out of his dozing at the sound of Inuyasha's movement. He gazed around the fire, shielding his eyes from its glow and took in the sight of Shippo and Kilala, nuzzled against each other and nodding off. There was no sign of Inuyasha or Sango and Kagome. The monk sighed and pushed himself to his feet. "Inuyasha?"

"What!" the single, irritated word came out much louder than Inuyasha had intended. He flicked his ears and felt his skin prickling all over his body. Kagome was coming closer and she was trying to peek into the link, trying to probe him. In spite of his best efforts the miko was cracking the link and Inuyasha's own fragile control over his own body.

"Oh, there you are." Miroku leaned on his staff, yawning and relaxed.

Inuyasha glowered at him, amber eyes alight and feral. How he wished he was calm like the monk, not fighting against a never-ending sexual tension. His clawed fingers cut into the pine tree's branch until sticky sap seeped out and coated his hands.

"Why are you sulking now, Inuyasha?" this came from a sleepy Shippo, curled beside Kilala who had waken up enough now to groom herself much like a housecat.

"Shut up runt."

"You didn't eat anything." Miroku observed, sounding slightly alarmed now.

"Feh." Inuyasha was fast running out of patience to deal with their questions.

"You should eat. You can't grow up big and strong without food!" Shippo sat up, standing in a bipedal position and stretching as he likely anticipated Kagome and Sango's arrival back from their baths. He gazed back down the path where Kagome and Sango had disappeared earlier and then started babbling again, "I helped Kagome and Sango make the stew tonight! Sango cut the rabbit's guts out and Kagome taught me what spices to put in to make it taste good! Papa used to eat his raw."

Inuyasha fidgeted, listening to the kit. The smell of the stew had been and was still enticing, and he knew he was hungry after being sick earlier in the day, but other needs drove him before food these days. He'd tried to eat, but the food had been bland to his taste buds, and his stomach wasn't appreciative. Inuyasha had actually caught the rabbit immediately after they'd stopped to make camp that evening. The careful concentration and violence had been a nice, pleasant release. It was great entertainment for the hanyou to imagine that the helpless, furry little rabbit was actually Kouga, meeting his most deserved fate at Inuyasha's claws…

He wondered if eating it raw right after having caught it would've pleased his palate more than the spiced stew.

And then his musings disappeared as he felt Kagome knocking at their link again. He cringed, ears flattening, but was unable to keep her thoughts from piercing his mind: _Inuyasha? Where are you?_

When he looked up he froze, muscles tense. Kagome and Sango were walking up the path together, their hair still wet and dripping. The water must've been cold, they were shivering together. Sango appeared pleased enough, but Kagome lagged behind as they approached the fire—she was scanning the place, looking for him.

He took in the kimono she was wearing, blue now instead of green like the first one, and dug his claws deeper into the pine tree. The bark crunched, a few flakes fell down to the ground. To his surprise, and secret delight, Kagome noticed that tiny movement and swiftly looked toward the tree, searching for him. It didn't take her long to catch sight of his amber eyes reflecting the firelight even high in the branches of the pine.

_Inuyasha? What are you doing up there?_

He ignored her concern, instead consumed by a silent but overwhelming pride in her, in them both. He remembered Myoga's words earlier: _"I can't predict all the changes that will occur, Master, but for example, Lady Kagome may now be able to wield a few of Tetsusaiga's attacks, with training of course. She might grow stronger, as well. Her senses may begin to compete with yours."_ Would she have been able to see him before?

He struggled to control himself as the young women settled around the fire.

Sango had come into the camp and taken a seat beside Miroku. She made a move to grab a bowl from Kagome's bag, but Miroku motioned gently with one hand, stopping her. The monk, having already eaten while the women were out bathing, reached into the bag for the bowl himself and began scooping some of the stew into it. When he was finished he passed it to Sango, smiling warmly.

"Houshi-sama, thank you." she ducked her head in an embarrassed bow, "You shouldn't have."

"Nonsense Lady Sango, it is my honor to be at your service." There was a gleam of something not-so-honorable in his eyes that made Sango scoot away from him slightly. "You know I am willing to be of service to you in any way you should desire. Any way…"

"Hentai." Sango scoffed, though his lechery was fast forgotten as she took in the smell of the warm stew. After the cold river it was very much a welcome treat. She twisted around and searched swiftly for Kagome, only to see that the other girl was making no effort to get food of her own. Instead Kagome was sitting beside the fire, Kilala on one side, Shippo on the other, but the miko had eyes only for the pine tree. "Kagome?"

Surprised, Kagome turned back and blinked at the demon slayer. "What? Sango?"

"Aren't you hungry?" she tipped her head to one side and hoped that Kagome was able to read more into those three words, things like: _"Don't worry about Inuyasha, he's always going to be difficult." _And: _"Are you okay?"_

"Oh, I—"

At that moment several things happened that drowned out Kagome's response. Firstly Miroku finally lost control and reached out one hand—the non-cursed left one this time—and slid it over the bump of Sango's hip and down toward one of her butt cheeks. Sango screeched with surprise and elbowed the perverted priest in the face. It was a miracle that she didn't spill the bowl of stew as she punished him.

The second thing was Inuyasha at last losing the internal battle he'd been fighting for control. He slipped out of the pine tree and took a spot beside the fire while Sango and Miroku scuffled. Kagome wouldn't have noticed his reappearance if not for the fact that the hanyou also opened the link again and at last shared his mind fully with hers once more.

_You're going to eat that stew, wench._

Kagome jerked her head around and stared across the fire at him. Her surprised expression faded quickly as she felt the open link and Inuyasha's continued conflict.

_Why didn't you tell me there was a mating season, Inuyasha? I would've understood. It's okay…_

He recoiled physically from her words, frowning. _How did you…?_

"Inuyasha! You're out of the tree!" Shippo exclaimed, grinning widely. "Will you eat our stew now? Kagome and Sango and me all made it!"

"You haven't eaten anything either?" Sango asked; her attention at last turned from beating the perverted monk. Miroku, meanwhile, was still trying to regain his dignity, straightening his robes and rubbing his nose and cheek where Sango had clobbered him.

"Feh, like it matters." Suddenly he was regretting coming down from the tree. The attention he was getting embarrassed him, and he didn't have the brainpower at the moment to deal with them. He had eyes and a mind only for Kagome…why couldn't the others just disappear?

Sango was already scooping out two more bowls of stew. One she passed to Kagome and the other she offered to Inuyasha. "You both should eat…"

"I'm not hungry!" Inuyasha snarled. He threw Kagome what appeared, on the surface, to be an angry glare. "Let Kagome have mine." _Kouga said something, didn't he? That lousy, good for nothing piece of wolf shit…_

"No, you were sick earlier today Inuyasha, you should be starving now." Kagome took both bowls from Sango's hand, keeping one and then passing the other over toward the grouchy hanyou. _No, Sango told me about it. Why wouldn't you tell me about it? There's more you're not telling me, isn't there?_

She could sense it in the shadowy corners of his mind, something he didn't want to tell her about the link, about them, or about the mating season. She could understand his embarrassment about the mating season because it left him out of control of his own actions, but there was something else, something deeper he didn't want her to know…

The hanyou's ears flattened, the amber eyes narrowed to slits. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, taking up his classic position. Underneath this, which Kagome normally would've thought was just stubbornness; the link revealed to her that Inuyasha was frustrated, panicked, and fighting for control. "I don't want the fucking stew!" _It's nothing that you need to worry about!_

The stew hovered in the air, still in Kagome's hand and unclaimed.

"I'll eat some more!" Shippo made his move, leaping forward and pawing at the bowl.

Inuyasha made a barking noise, stopping Shippo in his tracks and snatching the bowl out of Kagome's hand. He slurped the stew in one gulp, all the while wearing a very unhappy scowl—and not letting go of Kagome's arm either.

"You're acting rather peculiar, Inuyasha, are you alright?" Miroku asked, tentatively. His eyebrows had lifted high into his forehead with surprise. Sango mirrored the monk's expression almost perfectly.

"Feh." Was the only answer he gave them before the bowl of stew silenced him.

The spices in the stew, aromatic and pleasant to human taste buds, only irritated Inuyasha now. Normally hunger made him quick to eat this stew they made, spices and all, but every sense was heightened to the point of pain with nightfall and Kagome's presence. The stuff nearly gagged him sliding down his throat, and once in his stomach it sat there like a blob of lard.

_I think it is something to worry about. Why won't you just come clean with me? What is there to hide!_ Kagome's mind pressed in on his, searching, but Inuyasha threw her a snarl that made her withdraw. Shippo whimpered at the sound and hurried out of range to hide behind Kagome. He stumbled over Kilala in his haste, making the fire cat growl and also leave her spot, heading for the relative safety of Sango's lap.

"It's been a long day," Sango started carefully, looking between Inuyasha and Kagome, "Maybe we should all try to get some sleep?"

"I don't see you eating, bitch." Inuyasha's glaring hadn't ceased. _Stop pushing me!_

Kagome's face hardened, but wordlessly she began to shovel chunks of the thick stew into her mouth. She could sense his irritation and also the violent, lusty animal rising inside him—and accompanying it was his shame. That she knew about it now only embarrassed him more. Control was an important thing for Inuyasha, and he handled his embarrassment about the subject by using anger. If he was a big enough jerk Kagome would forget about the embarrassing matter and Inuyasha could go on suffering alone rather than facing the problem.

Too bad Kagome was onto this childish strategy.

She tore her arm free of his grasp—despite his angry glares and harsh words he was still holding onto the arm that had passed him the stew like it was a lifeline—and seemingly ignored his rude comment. But as she ate the stew and listened to the others start talking normally again, she half closed her side of their link and sent Inuyasha a firm warning.

_This isn't over Inuyasha. _

For his part the hanyou appeared thoroughly miserable after that.

* * *

The lizard demon waited outside their camp, upside down on the limb of a small sapling. He smelled the water from the river clinging to the human females after their bath, the rabbit meat and spices inside the stew, the ash of the fire. But aside from those things he could also take in and sense the energies within the group. It was brooding and dark currently, waiting for the spark to set it off burning.

It was really several energies. The male and female essences were in conflict, but Eki knew that this fight would be solved by their union. It was, after all, mainly powered by a mating tension.

The higher youkai were in their season. It was in their nature to crave blood, violence, and sex. But the half demon and the human, although linked with the same bond as true youkai might share, were not governed by it in the same way. If the hanyou had truly been possessed of the youkai's mating instinct, he would have lost all other thought, dragged his human mate into the woods, and forced himself on her until the instinct was at last satisfied. In full youkai couples the drive would've possessed both male and female, making the experience a normal, natural, even enjoyable event.

But with one of the individuals being merely human it had the potential to become ruthless, painful, ugly, perhaps even deadly…

Luckily nature was not so cruel. It had weakened the mating energies that controlled the hanyou, leaving him vulnerable but still sane. The human female, the miko, was possessed of the same energy by way of the link. It was an almost fair and equal arrangement, one with every likelihood of succeeding.

In Eki's mind the link danced with grace and power, uniting the lovers as a whole. It was particularly strong and easy to read in the nighttimes because it had an added goal now: to bring the couple together physically for the production of offspring.

The lizard flicked out his tongue and reached out psychically to his master. _They share the mating energy. The link is powerful and mature. They are strongly bound. But with the season they are weakened by the tension. The hanyou can do little else but fight his own instincts. _

His master responded swiftly: _It is too soon. Mating season will only heighten the hanyou's rage and his defense. He is not as weak as we need him to be._

Eki hissed and waddled further out along the sapling's branch, weighing it down. A sleeping dragonfly at the edge of the leaves ahead of him stirred slightly, fluttering its wings. Too late it saw the danger—the lizard demon's tongue rushing out and the sticky tip catching hold—it was dragged in to be crunched between Eki's small but powerful jaws.

_What must I look for, Master?_

_It is a young union; the miko will balk as the mating season wanes. You must be alert Eki, it may be a short rift between them. You must be ready for it when it comes. _

_Yes, Master. _

The lizard dropped to the ground below the sapling and scurried away, further into the darkness.

* * *

At last, by the end of the next day, the Shard-hunters had reached Kaede's village again. The tension within the small group, mainly between Inuyasha and Kagome, was overwhelming. It separated the band of travelers into three distinct groups. Inuyasha in the lead, stubborn, alone, and miserable. Kagome in the middle often accompanied by a boisterous Shippo. And following up the rear were Sango, Miroku, and Kilala, all pondering the mixed up miko and hanyou.

Kaede welcomed them in eagerly, sharing her food and her hearth and any further Shard rumors she'd heard of while they'd been gone. In turn Miroku and Sango explained their trip to see the Great Saishi.

"I never did understand exactly what was said, I'm afraid." Sango admitted. She was sipping at some of Kaede's tea, a rare treat that the Shard-hunters were able to enjoy. "He said that the magic in the Bone Eater's Well no longer has the magic that possessed it before because time has disrupted it." Sango's face twisted with confusion, "Kagome seemed to understand what he was saying, but I'm afraid I never did."

"Hmmn." Kaede hummed low in the back of her throat. "The well connects our two worlds." She looked over at Kagome and asked, "Kagome child, how many years have passed between our world and your world?"

Kagome, appearing depressed and melancholy again with the topic of the well and its failed magic, didn't even lift her eyes to look at Kaede. "About 500 years. In my time Japan is open with the rest of the world and there aren't any samurai anymore."

"He said even he could not fight this force? This…_time?"_ for Kaede using the word _time_ in a way other than a measurement was very much foreign. How could minutes clog a magical well?

"I believe it was not so much _time_ that was the problem as _destiny."_ Miroku suggested, head bowed and eyes closed, a signature position for a monk trying to think very carefully. "The Bone Eater's Well brought Lady Kagome through time to come here and free Inuyasha from his imprisonment on the tree. It's not a force anyone can fight, as I'm sure you know, Lady Kaede."

At this the aforementioned hanyou scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest uncomfortably.

"…And now it won't let you go back through, why?" Shippo asked quietly, peeking up at Kagome from inside her lap.

"Master Saishi said that it was because Lady Kagome belongs here now. It will be closed until she finds her purpose here." Again Miroku spoke without opening his eyes. In fact the entire group avoided looking at each other suddenly. Only Shippo continued to stare at Kagome until big fat tears welled in his little green eyes.

"If I don't find it," Kagome murmured, staring at the dim coals in Kaede's hearth, "Saishi said I'll die."

Inuyasha looked up sharply, ears pricked. "Like hell you will!" The others turned to look at him, startled out of their borderline misery. He scowled back at them defiantly, "That stupid monk was an idiot. We haven't tried that damned well in weeks—it could work again."

Miroku thumped his staff with one hand, "Inuyasha may be right. It is possible for Master Saishi to be wrong. And there is no reason for us to despair. Kagome's destiny may simply be to collect the rest of the Shikon Jewel. It would make sense."

Kaede's old, wrinkled face was set in a worried scowl. She reached over and laid a hand on Kagome's shoulder. "Are ye alright, child?"

"I'm fine." Kagome offered the old priestess a weak smile, but couldn't quite bring herself to look the other woman in the eye.

Across the room in his standard aloof position, Inuyasha's ears drooped pathetically.

"We will try the well tomorrow, child. Tonight I believe sleep is best." She bowed to them, thanking them for their company and they in turn thanked her for her usual hospitality—only Inuyasha remained distant and silent.

As the other Shard-hunters began unrolling futons and preparing to bed down for the night, Kagome finally looked up and realized that Inuyasha had vanished, slipping outside of the hut when no one had been watching. She touched briefly on the link only to find it full of the usual turmoil.

Hesitantly Kagome tried to open the link up to him, exposing herself. _Inuyasha?_

The hanyou responded swiftly but wordlessly, bombarding her mind with longing and fear, desperation and anxiety. Her own stomach twisted with a similar mass of emotion. Some were for the fear of the well, of the way it cut her off from her family and her time period, other emotions rose out of frustration that Inuyasha refused to open up completely to her. Still more came from her own intense desire to be with him, without worry or care. She could forget the other miseries, if only he were with her…

"Kagome?"

Sango's voice drew the young miko out of her thoughts with a jolt. She stared at the demon slayer with wide, startled eyes like a doe.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." She tried to smile but her facial muscles quivered with the effort. Her eyes lost their focus for a moment as she felt Inuyasha nudging her mind again, encouraging a reaction out of her. Heat rose up and seemed to cover her face. Her ears burned.

The world around her came sharply back into focus when Shippo pushed his way into her sleeping bag, walking on all fours like a dog. He used his nose to push back the covers and curled into a tiny ball, using his fluffy brown-red tail to cover his face. "Sleepy 'Gome." He yawned, "Sleepy, sleepy."

"Try not to worry." Sango's face as she spoke was wrenched this way and that with concern, "I'm sure everything will be fine for you Kagome. Whether you find your way back home again or not…" Sango bit her lip, as if silencing herself as she realized that was probably not the right thing to say. In the end she scooted forward and hugged her friend good night.

The lights were extinguished in the hut, darkness descended. Shippo started to snore quietly in her sleeping bag. The beads around Miroku's cursed hand jangled as he rolled over on his futon. Kagome took in their sleeping forms, surprised at how sharp her vision was that night almost immediately after the lights were put out.

Inuyasha reacted to this thought, pushing himself deeper into her mind as if embracing it. She could feel nuances of his emotions: his fear of losing control and displeasing her physically and at the same time the frantic need he had to be at her side, especially with the topic of the well being so prominent. The fear of losing her was also deeply ingrained in his thoughts, a wide, gaping fear that loomed larger than anything else.

There was a sound at the door. Kagome looked at it expectantly, knowing exactly who was crouched on the other side. It was her hanyou, unable to stay away from her though he had tried. Without the distractions of the daylight and the conversations of the evening, Inuyasha was vulnerable to the call of the mating season. Only illness the night before had allowed him the control to keep his distance then—today he had been grouchy and aloof but otherwise healthy.

He was not in the mood for sleeping.

_Kagome…_it was almost a plea, though exactly for what she wasn't sure. Did he want her to force him to stay away, as she had when she'd purified him? Or was he simply calling her out to him…? His thoughts didn't tell her, they were desperate and incoherent.

And in spite of her better judgment, Kagome could feel her own desire blooming. The well had left her stranded from her family, her mother, from her society with its rules, sanctions, and norms. Here, in the feudal era, she was as good as an orphan. There were no Higurashis. There was only the Shard-hunters and Inuyasha.

The call from the hanyou had changed, the tone in his mind had as well. It was deeper now, touching hold of something primitive and suddenly very needy deep inside her. It caressed her, sheltered her, completing her in a way she'd never imagined was possible. _Kagome. My mate…_

At last she gave up resisting it and returned the call. _Inuyasha. My mate…_

As if she'd given him permission of some kind, Inuyasha lifted the drape over the entrance to the hut and ducked into the room. A few of the Shard-hunters stirred, moaning and yawning at his appearance, but they spoke nothing coherent. If they understood what was happening they didn't try to stop it. The hanyou slipped silently to Kagome's sleeping bag and touched her face with chilled, trembling fingers.

Carefully, so as not to wake Shippo, Kagome pulled herself out of the sleeping bag until she was level with Inuyasha, and then she leaned into him with a first frantic kiss. He was cold wherever she touched him and that bothered her, she wanted him to be warm and comfortable. His body was shaking, his breathing ragged. The struggle within him for control was immense, even when it seemed he was already in over his head.

He was fighting his own mating season, his own instincts and driving needs, to try and please her. This knowledge only inspired more admiration of the hanyou and, coupled with her own intense desire, squashed the last of Kagome's better judgment, the last of her reservations.

She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight as he scooped her up and slipped out of the hut and into the nighttime.

* * *

**well guys, 2 updates on this story in 2 days. I hope I did it right, it felt off when I was writing them. I'm not too proud of them, compared with the snake venom chapters, the temple, Saishi, and Kikyo chapters...psh, I have my doubts. I've had writer's block for a long time now, and this is the first I've written in a while. I do hope it suffices. Please, if it's not too much to ask, leave me a review and tell me if I'm up to par. :-) and THANK YOU all for sticking by me. **


	27. The Well

A/N: Ah yes, and now I am back! Another chapter for _I Miss You_ is here! I've had quite an exciting break though! Also I can't write Kaede's "Ye" formal stuff worth crap. My apologies!! Also I've been taking an Art and Architecture of Japan class this semester. Thus you will notice things like _fusuma_ and the description of paintings on the wall...to a certain point you see I actually know what I'm talking about! Yay me!! On with the story!

Disclaimer: Nope I do not own him. I do however, own my iPod, that's awesome.

* * *

**Families again:** Shippo is married to Cher. They have at least two children, daughter Aka and son Shinku.  
Kari (out on a date with Souta to keep him busy) and Kagome Keshikaran are the granddaughters of Shippo and Cher. Their mother is Aka, their father is a human from the Keshikaran family.  
The Keshikarans as a whole are the descendents of the supposed first daughter of Kagome Higurashi and IY.

**Chapter Review: Family names: Byakko **is Shippo's family name. **Taishita** you'll see...**Sopan** unknown caretaker of Shippo's in later childhood (kithood?). **Last chapter Mrs. H:** She is trying to find answers about **Kagome Higurashi** from **Shippo** and his family. **Kagome Keshikaran **escorted her to thier household. The last time we saw **Mrs. H** was in **Kouga 2** and she had just met Shippo's Russian kitsune wife: **Cher. Last Chapter Shard-hunters(Discussions):** **Kagome and Inuyasha **are struggling with the inuyoukai mating season bearing down on them. They have consummated their relationship but are just starting to come to terms with it. **Sango **told Kagome about the mating season, she hadn't previously known about it. **Miroku and Sango and Shippo** have not yet revealed that they heard of a rumor about **Naraku** having plans to destroy IY and Kagome. They heard this from Miroku's spy, a prostitute named **Mikata (chap. 21). **The **shard-hunters** have reached **Kaede's village and the well. **They are about to test the well to see if it will work again. **Remember that Saishii **(Chaps 10 and 11)** has predicted that if Kagome does not find the reason why time won't let her pass through the well any longer, she'll die b/c she isn't a native to the Feudal Era, it's not her time. **

* * *

**The Well**

The next morning dawned moist and cold. Fog hovered over the trees, wrapped around branches, leaves, and trunks like ghost wraiths, restless spirits roaming over the earth. A few of the maples were beginning to show yellow, gold, and red along their leaf tips, the first sign that fall and winter were approaching.

The sun seemed to be taking its time rising. The thick trees to the east shrouded its light, keeping the mists alive a little longer. In the rice fields the moisture had burned away, disappearing as the light hit it. These wraiths died soundlessly and without fear.

The Shard-hunters were up early on this day, gathered around the well almost ceremoniously. Kaede lead the way, a gruff scowl covering her face—but the expression was not one of annoyance or pain or anger, it was instead the only sign of her concern over Kagome's wellbeing. The mood was tense and stiff, not even young, mischievous Shippo dared break the silence.

They stood around the meadow that held the Bone Eater's Well, with Kagome standing loosely in the center. They were grouped in unconscious clumps: Sango with Kilala, Miroku with Kaede, Kagome nearest to a quivering Shippo, and Inuyasha slightly distant from them all.

At last Kaede's scowl broke. "Do ye sense anything different?" it was an open question, thrown out to all of them, human, half-demon, and demon alike.

"I have never sensed any difference in it at all." Miroku murmured, no one else broached the topic, not even Kagome.

Kagome, looking tired and very solemn, lowered her gaze to the grass around the base of the well, heaving a small, sad sigh. Off to her right and slightly behind her, Inuyasha's lips thinned and his arms, already crossed over his chest, tightened down. Like Kagome the situation made him miserable, but unlike her he appeared more alert, in fact the amber orbs were probably the most awake of all of the Shard-hunters.

"It's not going to work." Shippo peeped, whimpering.

"It might—" Sango began hurriedly, her eyes flying to Kagome's slumped form. "We don't know that it hasn't—"

"We may certainly have fulfilled the event that Master Saishi spoke of. We don't know the rules governing the well's magic. It may return at any time…" Miroku spoke in calm, even tones, but though he did his best no one believed him. They avoided each other's gazes, and didn't even look at Kagome at all. Only Inuyasha dared to stare at her from behind, in his place just outside the circle.

"Ye must try it." Kaede sighed, at last staring at Kagome, "Inuyasha and Kagome must both try it, everyday you are here, to be sure."

Inuyasha scowled at her words and Kaede paused, noticing this. Irritation flickered across her single eye. "Inuyasha—you disagree with this?"

The hanyou shifted uncomfortably, looking once with an almost sheepish expression toward Kagome, but the miko had not yet turned to look at him. He'd spent most of the previous night with her until just before first light when the desperate, primal need had at last fled from them both, as skittish as the early morning mists. Kagome had fallen into her current delirium of thoughtless but solemn exhaustion while the hanyou felt more and more like a lurking crocodile beneath the waters of a lake, gathering energy and cunning for the next strike.

But for now the drive was under his control again and emotionally he worried and felt inclined to brood over his mate. This was a trying time for her, as it was for him, but for entirely different reasons. He could never make Kagome believe that she _belonged_ in the Feudal era because to Kagome it was like saying her family was as good as dead to her. Inuyasha could never wish that on her, but at once he hoped that she would accept her loss and begin to grieve…

The tension of being caught between the two, always faintly hoping while continually doubting as well, it was drawing too much on her soul…

So he grunted his answer, "Feh," and moved on with life.

"Try it, Lady Kagome, do not despair just yet." Miroku gestured feebly at the well, offering a small, almost timid smile. There was worry in the depths of his violet eyes but also courage and caring.

For the first time in minutes Kagome shifted, taking a step closer to the well. Behind her the entire group stiffened, waiting. But Kagome paused again, uncertain or lost perhaps. Here gaze was glazed and unfocused. She might've been near to grief and tears, or just exhausted, none really knew the truth: with the exception of Inuyasha of course.

She was afraid of the well; afraid of what she was already certain was true. It wouldn't work, it wouldn't send her home. She was still trapped against her will with the Shard-hunters who, although like a family to her, were still strangers in time. She didn't want to jump through it and still find herself looking up at the blue sky of the undeveloped Feudal Era. Fear of the well's inevitable failure kept her from moving, like a calculator when it is told to divide by zero. (A/N haha, funny math joke. Haha!)

Inuyasha at last lost patience with her fear-frozen inner world and sighed loudly. Ears flattened, he lunged forward and scooped the modern-day miko up into his arms. She blinked up at him, startled, but made no sound or protests. None of the others objected or even moved; they merely followed the couple with their eyes, worried and tense.

The hanyou leapt into the well. For a moment his senses, highly acute as they were, were swamped. Flesh tingled, ears imagined sounds that weren't there, eyes refused to adjust to the dimmer light, even his nose played tricks on him. No stink of dirt reached him, no mold spores, old leaves, burying insects, old stale water from the ancient spring the well had once been erected over…the only thing he could make out at all was Kagome in his arms.

And for the faintest of seconds Inuyasha thought he felt the weightlessness and the cold of the well, of the passage of time and magic.

The tiny hairs on his body stood one end…

And then his calloused feet and toes squished into squelching, mucky mud, left from the last rain. He knew from the quiet and the presence of morning light that nothing had happened. The well hadn't worked, despite what his instincts—or had they been old memories?—had imagined.

Kagome's fingers gripped his haori fiercely, making a fist. He looked down at her and immediately scowled unhappily. "Don't…" he started to grumble at her but cut himself off as worry and pity for his mate overrode his usual response of annoyance.

She was crying silently, the salty tears running down her face. "I felt it, Inuyasha. For just a minute…" she shook her head, finally seeming to come out of her daze. She looked him in the eye. Inuyasha struggled to keep from flinching away from her teary gaze. "Why won't it let us through? It's still there…waiting…"

The hanyou's shoulders sagged, defeatedly. "I felt it too."

Her chin trembled as she slowly, resignedly, pressed her face into Inuyasha's chest. _I'm never going to see my family again am I?_

Inuyasha frowned once and then tightened his grip around her, noticing how small she felt to him, how potentially frail…the memory of her illness after the snake demon had bitten her came back to him sharply and he fought a brief wave of panic at the thought of losing her. He searched his brain desperately for something positive to tell her but there was only one thing he could think of, and he doubted it would bring her any peace.

_You still have us. I'll never leave you…never._

Above them the other Shard-hunters had leaned curiously over the lip of the well. Miroku, Sango, Kaede and Kilala all withdrew as soon as they saw that the couple hadn't gone through the well, that indeed the magic was still failing. But Shippo stayed, peering down the long shaft into the dimness at its depths where his adopted mother and the hanyou that had saved him from the Thunder Brothers were locked in an embrace.

Whimpering, Shippo at last also retreated, ears drooping, as the scent of tears reached his little nose. He crept back toward the other adults and fought his own tears to question them. "The monk said if it didn't work Kagome would die!"

"Don't say such things Shippo!" Sango scolded him immediately, but there were tears in her eyes as she spoke.

Miroku wore a very solemn expression, "Master Saishii could have been wrong…"

Kaede was nodding slowly, her jaw firmly set and her lips pinched into a tight, thin line. "Don't worry child, the Bone Eater's Well brought Kagome here, she is Kikyo's reincarnation. She was _meant_ to come here, _meant _to meet all of you, _meant_ to help find the Shards. Perhaps she is now _meant_ to stay here…"

There was a small sound from the well, a thumping sound. The entire group turned as one to look at it and spotted only a flash of red and white, dashing across the early morning light of the field toward the trees. He was still carrying Kagome in his arms.

Shippo lunged forward, as if to follow the hanyou, "Inuyasha!—"

Miroku's staff shot out, catching Shippo's little fox legs and swiping them out from under him. The kit rolled to a stop, knocking his head against the wood of the well. When he moved to look after Inuyasha and Kagome again they were already vanished. He turned round to regard Miroku and the others with an angry scowl.

"What did you do that for, Miroku?"

"Leave them," The monk's face was blank and unreadable. He crossed his arms slowly over his chest. "Inuyasha will be her strength at this time."

"But Houshi-sama—what about Naraku?"

Kaede's single eye narrowed, intrigued at that infamous name. "What about that beast?"

Miroku had closed his eyes and spoke without seeming to move at all. "I heard a rumor that Naraku intends to use the closeness between Inuyasha and Kagome as a weapon of sorts, a weakness he will use to crush us."

On the ground Shippo's young, green eyes widened with fear.

Kaede made a low grunting sound in the back of her throat. "That is disturbing news."

"Shouldn't we try and warn them?" Sango asked, quietly.

Kaede stared at the well and then at the forest where Inuyasha had disappeared to. "It would likely do them no help. They must be warned, yes, and in the meantime ye must always keep a sharp lookout for danger."

"We can't watch over them when they're running off like that!" Shippo squeaked, irritably.

Miroku lifted his staff once and thumped it against the ground again, jangling it. "Leave them alone, Shippo."

"Yeah, but—"

"Inuyasha can take care of himself and of Kagome." Miroku sighed. "Lady Kaede is right; there is nothing we can do. Even warning them won't help."

Shippo stared at the ground, flexing his tiny fists angrily. Although his face was almost impassive there was an unmistakable fire, fierce and powerful, growing inside his young green eyes. The others were wrong to let Inuyasha and Kagome go free when this threat was still hanging over them. And even worse, they hadn't warned them!

Shippo began to plan out the words in his head, the time, the way it would work…

They needed to know.

* * *

"Sesshomaru?" Cher, Shippo's Russian wife, turned her dark gaze on me. She stumbled over the pronunciation some, frowning, "She knows…?"

"Kagome must've told her." Shippo murmured, quietly, behind the Russian kitsune.

"I didn't tell her anything!" Kagome Keshikaran was just as wide-eyed as I must've been walking in through the gardens with their dipping, glowing lights...I felt a small satisfaction at having stunned them with my memory, with my own tiny sliver of knowledge from their otherwise enchanted, foreign world.

"My daughter talked about him. She said he traveled with a little girl."

Kagome Keshikaran's shock had apparently worn off by then, for she turned and looked back at Shippo and asked, "How could they doubt her, Grampa? Se—"

Shippo made a hissing sound, silencing her immediately. I blinked at it, startled. Kagome Keshikaran and Cher both drooped their ears, like wounded dogs. I realized that Shippo was in fact scolding them in his own unique way. I stared between them, wondering what it was that they'd been about to say…

"You can't talk about it anymore! I'll deal with Taishita's representative." He met Kagome Keshikaran's eye and said, "Take Lady Higurashi to one of the guest rooms. Let her sleep with us tonight."

Kagome Keshikaran nodded once, biting her lip. Her hands, surprisingly strong, as I was well-aware of, closed over my arm. She slipped through the entryway and led me into the house. Though I didn't try, I knew there would be no resisting; there would be no wandering through the home either, not without her company anyway.

The house was decorated in an old, courtly style. I marveled at it. There are many old castles and palaces around Japan, but they are delicate and require maintenance because all of the old structures are made of wood, and wood rots slowly over time. With the humidity of the summer, and then the freezing of wintertime, one can well imagine the amount of effort put into an old palace. Painted paper on the _fusuma_ sliding doors withered and cracked and faded steadily with the passage of years.

I know of this intimately myself. With the care of the manuscripts and ancient records of the Shrine as my responsibilities I maintained a keen interest in such restorations and processes of upkeep. These things are done despite their great difficulty because it is apart of our culture and it must be kept and treasured.

That is why I was so astonished at Shippo's home. It seemed to be a palace of sorts. The woodwork was beautiful and fresh. The tatami mats had none of the usual musty scent of an old dampness or dust as I was accustomed to. It was as if everything had just been taken apart and restored the day before my arrival. Everything was brand new. I felt certain it was not part of the workings of the real world. It was another mysterious trick of the _kami._

Kagome Keshikaran took me down a small, narrow hall and slid open a door decorated with gold leaf. In the dim light I caught blue ink dappling it. I hesitated before entering the room, trying to make out the paintings.

"Birds," Kagome Keshikaran told me, smiling slightly, "The ones on this door are birds, songbirds I think."

I nodded, that didn't surprise me. Birds and flowers were common images.

"Inside, you'll want to see that." Kagome's smile widened then. There was a glint of something mischievous in her green eyes.

She ushered me inside. The room was dark, but I could already see that the _fusuma_ in this room were also covered in gold leaf paper. Kagome walked through the room assuredly, pushing past me. I heard something thumping on the floor and then the room burst into light—_green_ light.

I covered my eyes, gasping.

"This is the guest's room, Kira. The Fox Room."

I peeked slowly at the room and discovered that the light had dimmed down. Now it was a faded, eerie green, the same light that had illuminated the gardens outside. I twisted around to stare at Kagome Keshikaran. She was grinning a little too widely now. She quirked one finger up at the ceiling. When I looked I saw the same floating green lights from the garden.

"_Kami."_ I muttered, feeling a shiver pass through me. Did they delight in exposing me to things that I knew I wasn't supposed to see as a mortal woman?

"The walls, don't forget them."

At her urging I looked around me. These walls were decorated also, though it was actually a bedroom. In one corner a futon was spread out, layered high with feathery blankets that reminded me of boas. But it wasn't the bed or the bedding that kept my attention: it was the walls, just as Kagome had said. Unlike the blue inked bird on the outside of the room, which was a common decoration, this room used _red _ink. Trees and grasses filled the room in black ink while, scattered here and there, foxes posed, frozen in time. Some were caught in mid-motion, leaping for prey, others were half-hidden below the trees or in the grasses.

It was indeed an unusual set of paintings, but considering who owned them I wasn't surprised.

"Does Sesshomaru paint his walls with dogs?" I murmured, still staring wide-eyed at the foxes dancing over the walls.

"No." Kagome Keshikaran answered, quietly. "He isn't one that admires color or imagery."

Her voice had come from the doorway. I turned to look, startled, and she was already outside the threshold.

"Ka—" I stopped, caught up by the act of speaking my own daughter's name to someone else. This Keshikaran girl, though she bore my daughter's name, though she was somehow supposedly related to her and me, she was so clearly a fox, not a Higurashi.

She gazed at me, the edges of her mouth quirking. "You'll be safe here, I promise. My sister will be bringing Souta home with her too." She smiled warmly, "Sleep, there will be plenty of time to talk later."

Before I could speak another word she slid the door shut with a clattering sound. The red inked foxes were all that was left with me now. They stared at me from their perfectly preserved, unnatural gold leafed paper. I thought I could feel them laughing at me, leering.

I sat slowly on the futon and curled my body tightly into a ball.

_What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

He was warm, better than any blanket. It was still amazing to her, astounding, that she was where she was, wrapped around him, covered and sheltered by him. When Inuyasha was with her alone he had the mysterious power to consume every other worry, every fear and uncertainty. His mind was like quicksand, pulling on her fears, sucking them up and then burying them away deeply, somewhere she would never find them again.

Fear and awkwardness were gone, melted away. Uncertainty vanished. In fact she could hardly form any thoughts at all. A thought would scarcely form in her mind before Inuyasha would absorb it into his own. He knew exactly where to touch her not by the way she looked at him or moved or by suggestion—but by thought.

He was capable of great gentleness and care, but also of being rougher. She could feel the drive in the back of his mind, a hunger amplified and driven by the seasons, by the mating season of the inuyoukai. In years past, if she'd allowed herself such a thought, Kagome might've imagined the hanyou to be fairly sexless, but with the link she knew that to be a deception. He hungered for physical release as much as any male, but as a hanyou he was accepted nowhere. To expose anything of the truth would only push others away. He was lonely, craving and yet fearing contact more than she could ever have imagined.

Despite that loneliness Inuyasha was still amazingly gentle. The desperation in him was a product of the mating season. Away from its influence he would be an unhurried, gentle lover—it astounded her that even in the middle of its grasp Inuyasha never took action without some sort of permission from her. Clothing was never torn or slashed; his touch was always gentle, perhaps even hesitant at first. The only sign of his frantic hunger came when he kissed her body—he had a bad habit of biting her, gnawing almost, which left bruising frequently and even drew blood.

But on this occasion there were no harsh love bites, only the tickle of his clawed hands and the comforting, overpowering heat of his body. He emanated comfort and peace, and Kagome took them gratefully, recognizing it as Inuyasha's attempt at therapy, as his best hope for cheering her up. He wasn't very good with words, he'd be the first to admit that, but through the link he could calm her, help her more than he'd ever done before.

The fear, tension, and grief of discovering that the well still didn't work, all of it melted away when she was in his arms. There was only peace left behind, only comfort and the warmth of him everywhere around her.

Kagome wasn't sure where he'd brought her; Inuyasha hadn't given her much time to pay attention to her surroundings. It was a small hut, built and sheltered in the mountains around Kaede's village. Perhaps it was once a place for hunters, or more likely, a small impromptu Shinto shrine. It was a little leaky, she heard drops coming in on one side, the floor was earthen and smelled rich, like moist soil, full of growing things. In the dark of the night before she'd only had smell and hearing and touch, but by day her previous impressions proved right. She briefly spotted small clay figures, _kami_-spirit representations, scattered along the walls—and then her world shrank down to herself and Inuyasha, nothing existed beyond them.

In the moments of stillness, Kagome felt along Inuyasha's body, exploring the bumps of ribs, admiring the hard muscles, the smooth skin, and softness of his white ears. She committed them to memory, focusing only on the hanyou, making him her world to stave off troubled reality. There were a few spots where her fingers met disturbances in his otherwise flawless flesh—scars from old battles.

Inuyasha caught her hand when she paused on one, tracing it with her finger. His amber eyes, moments before closed, now were open and alert again. His eyes and his mind searched over her, carefully. He was still not thinking with words, sending only a sort of sharp concern. And then his lips quirked downward.

He squeezed her fingers, "Don't worry about it."

But she did, just as he worried about her weakness as a human, she worried about the terrible responsibilities, the threats, that loomed over a hanyou in the Feudal Era. Yet when they were together it was an easy thing for Kagome to push aside her worry and replace it with affection.

She pressed forward, attacking him with her lips, wrapping her arms and legs around him. He responded eagerly, tasting her mouth and then her neck. His ears, soft like velvet, tickled the underside of her chin.

It was all she could do not to laugh aloud as a surge of joy and desire coursed through her. It was real joy, ecstatic and triumphant. So many years of hardship coming and going between her world and his world, and always wanting him. Now, though she'd lost her whole world on the other side of the well—her decade, her schooling, her family—she had gained Inuyasha. He was hers, wholly and completely. The pain and grief of that loss would return when she and Inuyasha were once again separate beings, when their passion had lessened, but for the moment she rejoiced.

Inuyasha's mind probed hers, requesting permission. There was still more hunger inside him, the night was closing in and with it the stronger, more frenzied urges that the moon brought with it. Kagome welcomed him, wild desire and all, holding him close. She delighted in the feel of his body heat, in the power inside his thick muscles, the twitch of his ears, the tiny sounds of pleasure he made involuntarily in his throat…

She took one of his ears in her mouth and forced a thought into his mind, buzzing and incoherent as it was with pleasure. _I love you. _

He gasped and she saw him snap open his honey-colored eyes, warm and softened with both physical and emotional bliss. The hanyou was unable to form words, but nonetheless he swamped Kagome with his emotions, deep and overwhelming, an abyss of love and devotion to her.

It was enough; in fact it was better than words.

And as night fell and the moon rose over the hills and mountains of Kaede's village, words and thoughts entirely ceased to be necessary.

* * *

I opened my eyes and found the room glowing a sickly, dark green. The light was dimmer than it had been the last I could remember. Had I drifted off? Was it morning? Time seemed off somehow, changed in a way I couldn't perceive. Was I even living still at all?

Voices outside the paper-thin walls made my mind snap to attention. I stayed where I was, frozen, hardly breathing. The futon was soft around me, the feathers of the blankets tickled my cheeks and nose where they fluffed up around me. I listened to the voices, straining everything within me to hear every word.

"Why, Shippo? Why you bring her here?" it was Cher, Shippo's Russian kitsune wife.

"Her daughter saved my life." Shippo muttered, sounding as if he were very close to losing his patience. "She has every right to be here."

"You bring those dogs into my home."

"_Our home."_ Shippo snarled.

"I don't want her here."

"They have to see her, she has to know." There was a long, heavy silence, and then a grunting noise, a sound of frustration. "_Cher._ Look past yourself for a moment. She is a mother—like you. Imagine Aka, imagine our daughter leapt through a well one day and never returned…"

"And mate a filthy dog." Cher spat. "Fox killers."

"This isn't Russia." Shippo's tone was softer now.

"I hate the dogs. No trouble from them if we send her away. Get her out of here, before the Taishita comes."

There was another pause and then, faintly, I thought I heard Shippo whisper: "I owe Kagome this."

"She is dead." Cher chewed the words out, frustrated. But to me, hearing those three words, it was as if they were chewing on me, ripping and gouging at my own flesh. A cold wave swept over me, nausea bloomed inside.

I closed my eyes, taking deep breaths. _You've always known she was gone. By law she's a missing person and she's been gone for so long they have listed her as deceased…she **is** gone…_

But in my heart this whole situation had given me hope again, and sickly, now, I had to face my fear and grief all over again. I fought tears as Shippo and Cher continued to talk.

"She reveal us. Humans are trouble. Always only trouble."

"She has this right. The Tetsusaigas can't run from her, they share her _blood._"

"They don't give a damn." Cher's voice was rising, "They're dogs! You tell her that! Let her meet Taishita. She will see…"

"Keep your voice down." Shippo warned her, quietly. "You'll wake her."

He was talking about me. I felt chills rush up and down my spine. Fear tried to lcok up my muscles. The instinct I felt was to flee, to spring up off the futon with its feathery covers, and rush out of their home. Cher wouldn't even have to ask me to go! But at the same time as I thought about fleeing, something inside me hardened, remembering the pain I'd felt when the Russian kitsune had said that my Kagome was dead. I could also remember Shippo saying, _"I owe Kagome this."_ There were things I didn't know, things that I refused to go to my grave leaving unanswered. And these people—these _beings_—were the only ones that could answer my questions.

I stayed where I was, ears tuned to their now quieted words.

"You never knew Kagome." Shippo was saying to Cher. I felt my heart fluttering faster inside my ribcage, a ripple of anticipation in my guts, unraveling slowly, like rattlesnakes after winter hibernation. "She and Inuyasha weren't like the Tetsusaigas now. Kagome was beautiful; she was a second mother to me…"

Cher snorted, "A fox raised by humans? You were raised in Russia, Shippo."

"You know I was born here Cher—don't be a fool. I wasn't raised any one place. Before Sopan found me and took me to the mainland Inuyasha and Kagome were my caretakers."

I gripped the feathers around me and squeezed them tight; every muscle in my body was strained. Shippo was old—had he still been only a child when my Kagome and the hanyou aged and died, leaving Shippo once again an orphan? Was that why he'd allowed whoever—whatever—Sopan was to take him to China? I remembered that the kitsune had spoken Russian to Cher easily, sliding in and out of Japanese with ease. Were they gifted that way so that human languages were that easily learned and spoken? Or was Shippo more like a human? Did he have to live in the midst of the language to learn it so well?

"I am no fool." Cher growled irritably, "I don't bring dogs to my house." She scoffed again, "And you were not raised by dogs!"

"No—you're right I wasn't. Kagome was human and Inuyasha was only a half-demon in those days."

Cher's gasp in the other room beyond the red ink of the foxes on the _fusuma_ was mimicked in the same second by me. I slapped a hand over my mouth to silence any other reactions, barely breathing to listen for more. _Only a half-demon in those days?_ What had happened to change that fact? And what had he become?

"Half? Half dog? What else was he half of? Fox? Wolf?" Cher sounded as if the next word gagged her, "Cat?"

"No," Shippo said, "He was human, Cher. Hadn't I told you this?"

"Names. You gave me names, Shippo. I knew Inu…" she stumbled over his name, "He was dog. All dog." There was a pause and then Cher asked, tentatively, "She is…human?"

It took me several moments to realize she was asking about me.

"Yes, she is. Kagome was human too, a miko."

There was a heavy pause before Cher spoke again in a slow, careful voice. "She should go. No Taishita dogs in our house, Shippo. No trouble. Her child—I am in gratitude to Kagome for your sake, Husband. But…_our home…"_

Shippo sighed deeply and I felt chills pass through me again. _He can't send me away! Not when I'm this close!_

"I won't keep her here, Cher. To make you happy. But she _is_ going to see the Taishitas, and the Tetsusaigas too, hell the whole lot of them all will see her. This is about her kin, Cher. You understand, don't you?"

"Yes, Husband. I thank you." she mumbled something after it in Russian that made my stomach twist up on itself.

"Yes, go and wake her, take the sleep spell of the room before you go in, it will help her wake up faster. I'll call Sesshomaru."

I heard their footsteps shuffling over the _tatami_ and the floorboards. Sliding doors opened and then clattered shut on their tracks again. My heart was racing. _Sleep spell? Why did I wake up?_

The green lights, like fireflies, were still moving lazily around the room, skidding along the ceiling. The light from them was still the same sickly dark green color. It made my skin crawl but it certainly didn't make me feel sleepy.

_I'm immune to their magic._

At that moment I heard Cher's footsteps at the door, heard her humming and murmuring in Russian. The firefly lights on the ceiling sped up, excited by her words. My skin tingled and I felt a mild wave of nausea sweep through me. _Magic…?_

The light changed, becoming brighter, a green-yellow now. My hearing seemed too sharp—I heard Cher's fingernail on the handle of the door.

I closed my eyes as she slid the door open gently and crept into my room. If I was immune to their magic it was a secret that was better kept to myself…

* * *

_And that's all for now folks. :-)_


	28. Interrupted

A/N: Today (Thursday before Christmas as I am writing this) my boyfriend is on his way home. There is quite a bruise (it's swollen too) on my hip from waitressing last night when I crashed into a chair. I have published the Sess/Rin fic and completed WOAWO. Wow, I feel very much accomplished! Now if only I could finish this one, eh? But this story tends to be harder for me because the storyline is a little less straightforward. Non-linear. Oi, I do hope you all can bare with me here I just haven't written on it as much. But here's hoping this makes a difference…

Also! I had a reviewer rightly write in and ask me about the last passage where Mrs. H overhears Shippo and Cher talking:

"_No—you're right I wasn't. Kagome was human and Inuyasha was only a half-demon in those days."_

_Cher's gasp in the other room beyond the red ink of the foxes on the fusuma was mimicked in the same second by me. I slapped a hand over my mouth to silence any other reactions, barely breathing to listen for more. **Only a half-demon in those days?** What had happened to change that fact? And what had he become?_

"_Half? Half dog? What else was he half of? Fox? Wolf?" Cher sounded as if the next word gagged her, "Cat?"_

"_No," Shippo said, "He was human, Cher. Hadn't I told you this?"_

That part may have caused some confusion. Without really meaning to I made it very cryptic. Is Inuyasha going to become fully human? In answer I supply the next bit of the conversation and hope it will throw you all back into doubt. Read carefully. I'm not going to say anything b/c I find the cryptic stuff funny. It makes me smile.

"_Names. You gave me names, Shippo. I knew Inu…" she stumbled over his name, "He was dog. All dog."_

I believe I will recap the Tetsusaiga family myth of their origin again at some point soon just to fluster all of you in its rereading. Until then, toodles!

**Disclaimer: I do not own them.**

* * *

Last Chapter: **Inuyasha, Kagome** and the others tried the well. It still doesn't work, though as they passed through it Kagome and Inuyasha thought that it was perhaps still there, but the magic is dormant, lying in wait. Inuyasha ran off then with the distraught Kagome to comfort her in the oldest way in the book: sex! (sorry I'm too jovial tonight). **Miroku, Sango, Kaede, and Shippo** discussed the supposed plan by **Naraku** to use the link between Inuyasha and Kagome against them. They all agreed, all but Shippo, that telling Inuyasha and Kagome during the mating season was a bad idea and at any rate Inuyasha would protect Kagome while they were alone together. Shippo does not agree. **Mrs. H** was given the chance to stay the night with **Shippo Byakko. **She discovered when she woke up and overheard Shippo and his Russian wife **Cher** talking that she is immune to their kitsune magic. Also the **Taishita** family (Sesshomaru's descendants) are not happy with the Byakkos for taking Mrs. H in. Cher hates dog demons and wanted Shippo to take Mrs. H out of her house. Shippo agrees to do that so that Cher doesn't have to deal with "the Taishita dogs." But he swears that she will meet the Tetsusaigas, her own "descendants" essentially. We also learned that since the Feudal Era Shippo has lived a long, mysterious life. He was taken to the "mainland" by someone named Sopan after Kagome and Inuyasha were no longer his "caretakers." 

Family Names Summary: **Byakko **is Shippo's family. Two children at least, Shinku the youngest son. And Aka their daughter married a Keshikaran man. **Keshikaran** is the name of a family related to the Tetsusaigas reputedly by Kagome's first daughter. Right now you've seen Kari Keshikaran and Kagome Keshikaran who are both granddaughters of Shippo and kitsune hanyous. Their mother is Shippo's daughter Aka. **Tousakusha** is a family name I have not yet revealed... **Tetsusaigas** obviously Kagome and Inuyasha's descendants.

* * *

**Interrupted**

The night had grown chilly and a wind picked up, slashing at the eerie, floating firefly lights in Shippo's gardens. I stared out at them, still feeling queasy deep in my gut. Their magic, it was as if I was slowly becoming allergic to it. My chest was tight, my heart pounding, my palms were covered in sweat.

Shippo was jabbering to Cher in Russian. I saw his nervous green eyes darting my way, sometimes just nervous, most often apologetic. Cher was agitated still, babbling. Shippo was reluctant to leave her without calming her first. I wondered where Kagome Keshikaran had gone. Home perhaps, she wasn't a Byakko; she was a Keshikaran after all.

I looked into the gardens again and scowled. The wind was picking up, I could see the branches twisting and shaking in the wind, lit a sickly green-yellow by the firefly lights.

Another faint light caught my attention then. Along the side of the lighted path I saw two hovering orbs close together, moving together and spaced just right to be eyes, watching the house. They reflected the eerie light from the fireflies in a gold-green color. I shuddered and looked away, back to Cher and Shippo, opening my mouth to speak. "Something is out in your gardens…" my words shook.

Shippo and Cher turned as one, regarding me with surprise. Shippo was the one to ask, "What?"

"Something is out in the garden…" I remembered the fox the size of the Great Dane that had greeted Kagome Keshikaran and I. "Could it be Shinku?"

Cher snorted, appearing irritated now. "Fool son." She threw a glare at Shippo, "_Your_ son."

Shippo ignored her and stomped past her, coming to the window to look. When I turned as well, following his gaze, the shadows along the path were empty. The eyes had gone. I started to speak but Shippo shushed me, abruptly tense.

"We have to go." He pinned me with a hard gaze. "Hurry."

Cher babbled behind him, sounding as if she disapproved. I wished I'd learned Russian just so I could tell her to be quiet. My stomach was still fluttering, twisting itself over like it wanted to tie my intestines in a knot. Shippo spoke back to Cher in Russian, harshly, and then with one hand ushered me out the door. I tried to stifle my surprise and intimidation at how much strength I could feel hiding in Shippo's arms. His very touch was almost electric; it seemed to prickle my skin.

We slid our shoes on just outside the doorway. My toes were cold from the chill on them, I wondered vaguely if Shippo could feel cold like that in the same way, if such a minor discomfort even bothered him at all. My Kagome had come home talking about Inuyasha's strength, how he could be dealt huge blows and never show so much as a bruise a day later. And Inuyasha had been only a _half_ demon. Shippo was full blooded.

We started back out on the path. The lights buzzed as Shippo approached, lifting higher and dancing, excited by their master's nearness. They changed color slightly, becoming greener.

Shippo tucked me close to him, like a lover or like Souta might've to protect me. It made me uncomfortable and even more nervous that I'd been already. I moved against his hold but Shippo ignored me, in fact I was sure I felt his arm tighten over my shoulders, pulling me closer.

"What's going on?" my words came out shivering, though not just from the night's chill.

"I'm protecting you." Shippo answered me quietly, barely whispering it.

I shuddered again, my skin itched, prickled. I stumbled, trying to breathe and think clearly. Shippo's grip on my shoulders picked me up and kept me going forward on the path. "What are all of you trying to hide?" I choked a little and realized with a start that I was _crying…_

"It was never any of my doing." I peeked up at Shippo and saw that his ears were flat, his face set in a determined frown, but his words only served to unnerve me further. I struggled to take deep breaths and pushed against his hold on my shoulder.

"Where are you taking me? What's going on?" I could hear my own tears in my voice, shaking. It didn't feel like me, it didn't sound like me. The lights above us dipped and danced, making me think that if I squeezed my eyes shut hard enough all of it would disappear and become a deluded dream, a feverish imagining that my brain had created during some flu or cold. Maybe I would even awaken and find that Kagome had never gone through the well, maybe she was still 14 and had never been apart of the search for the Shikon shards, or met a demon called Inuyasha…

"I'll tell you all that I can later, as soon as I've gotten you some place safe…"

And then we stopped, pulling up short. The path bent away to the left up ahead, the lights above us dimmed dangerously, plunging Shippo and I into the blackness of the night. The wind raced through the trees, rustling, sighing, and scratching.

Shippo's arm around my shoulder tightened and for once I didn't fight him no matter how his proximity bothered me. "What's going on?" I breathed.

A shape landed in our path, dog-shaped, but the size of a Great Dane. It flicked its tail, lifted its long whiskered muzzle. The blaze of white teeth showed clearly in the dark. When it opened its eyes I saw again the ghostly green glow. It was Shinku. My heart slowed slightly, I released a breath I hadn't known I was holding.

"Shinku." Shippo growled, clutching me closer protectively, "What are you doing sneaking around like that? You little moron—get inside with your mother!"

Between one blink and the next Shinku transformed, becoming the tall, gangly man from before, still dressed in blue jeans and a bright red shirt. It glowed a stark brown underneath the flickering firefly lights. When he grinned it was still the foxish smirk. He looked every bit the frightening trickster.

"I'm here for her." Shinku jerked his head in my direction and at my alarm he grinned wider. "Why do you look so afraid?" he asked me, smirking still, "I knew Inuyasha. I knew your Kagome—and _I will tell you about them._ That's something that this old fart can't do."

"You hush your mouth!" Shippo snarled, ears flattening. "I will _not_ tolerate your disrespect, you ungrateful weasel!"

"Of course, because you play by the rules, Father." Shinku ducked his head, bowing surprisingly low, at least showing respect if not really meaning it. "But the Taishita knows that I do not. I am still the reckless kit." His eyes twinkled in the low light with mischief.

I felt Shippo shift his weight abruptly, apparently thinking. I didn't understand what was happening, but I knew Shinku's tone was one of negotiation. "Shinku…" Shippo spoke quietly, frowning, "The Taishita is dangerous, your mother is right to fear him…"

Shinku's smirk didn't lessen. "You can fear him. I like to see how mad we can make him. We're not dogs. Why should we be ruled by dogs?"

Shippo's arm around me loosened slightly. I felt my knees shaking, my breath coming faster, my heart thumping wildly. Shinku would make things clear? As I stared at him, with the glowing, ghostly green eyes, I couldn't help the thrill of fear that passed through me, rushing up and down my spine like the wind. That creature was going to provide the answers I needed?

And when I looked at Shippo's face, and then to Shinku again, I saw the tension there, the worry. I wondered then what the answers would cost them. Was Sesshomaru likely to kill Shinku or Shippo for revealing the truth to me?

I felt anger then—why should any of them hide anything from me at all? Nothing made sense!

Before I could think anything else, Shippo pushed me at Shinku. I screamed, and then found myself silenced as Shinku caught me, crushingly. His hand closed over my lips, he turned me round and let me see Shippo, half kneeling in front of us both. My head was swimming; my stomach was clenched like a fist. I thought I might vomit against Shinku's palm but it settled as Shippo's green orbs met my gaze.

"I'm sorry, Lady Higurashi." He was frowning sadly, "I wish it was easier than this—but I have a family to protect. I've been waiting for you for centuries, I promised Kagome I would." He closed his eyes, sighing with memory, and I felt my heart take off like a tiny bird trying to fly against the wind, "I would've told you everything you needed to know but…time is fragile. Sesshomaru banned us from searching for you years ago…I wish it had worked out a different way…"

I tried to fight Shinku's hold, I heard myself screaming against his hand, but the sound was impossibly muffled. I reached out for Shippo, shaking my head against Shinku's hold No, I wanted to tell him, don't send me away, _please._ I pleaded him with my eyes, but Shippo looked away and Shinku's hold became tighter and stronger still.

"Shinku will take care of you." he threw a warning glare up at his son, "He'll tell you what you need to know, and he'll take you some place safe. My granddaughters have also left and gotten Souta safely home." He smiled reassuringly. "Please, don't be scared—Kagome never would have wanted that, and we could never hurt you…"

I choked, feeling tears sliding down my face, though whether it was from grief or from horror and fear I couldn't tell. My entire world was overwhelmed, swamped with strangeness. Something inside me hurt, twisting. I felt sick again. The kitsune magic was strangling me, driving me mad. I pawed at Shippo's face, desperate to stop him because he was the only familiar one in the whole bunch, the only one that I could believe had true loyalty to my Kagome…

"Take her, Shinku. Be careful my son."

"Yes, Father."

I screeched against his hands, and then felt myself floating, lighter than air. The lights swirled, Shippo had disappeared. Darkness crashed onto me.

* * *

_(A/N: Ah yes, onto my "clean" lemons. I kinda skirt around the naughtiest things and summarize to make it all good and clean for virgin-ears. I know some of you want lemons so bad you can taste them, haha funny pun, but I've never written a full fledged one actually and I'd have nowhere to put it…sorry…)_

Dripping sounds woke her, thick and melodious. The air had a heaviness to it, a rich scent that she identified at once as rain. When she opened her eyes there was nothing to greet them but the dimness of the tiny hut Inuyasha had dragged her to—not unwillingly of course. She thought he was still with her, lying at her side, but for a moment she wondered if perhaps everything was a dream, a sweet, impossible dream that she had at last awoken from…

But when she sent one hand out, searching for him, she reached warm, living flesh. Kagome sighed, filled with relief and then with annoyance that she could so doubt the things that had happened between them. _It has been fast,_ she had to cut herself a little slack there, that much was certainly true—but she wouldn't want it any other way.

The light outside was dim, probably from the rain. It was impossible to tell the time of day accurately from inside the hut.

Kagome drifted back into the warm, blissful sleep she had been in before, feeling Inuyasha pressed against her on one side, and the trapped heat and his strong, musky, male scent from his haori draped over her. She was surrounded on all sides by his powerful, comforting presence.

Yet later she came awake again, even more slowly than the first time. It was not sound that brought her out of the depths of sleep this time, but touch. Inuyasha was stroking her face, tickling the tender skin of her neck, and then trailing his touches lower, past breast, belly, and thigh. She shuddered under his fingertips, feeling it in the corners of her dreams. And as she opened her eyes, blinking blearily, she felt her hanyou stroking the link as well, filling it with his need for her—not just a physical need, but actually above and beyond it. He was trying to get the point across to her yet again. _You belong here, you belong with me. I will protect you; nothing can take you away from me. _

He did not truly speak it in thoughts; it was communicated by a wordless emotion and by his eyes as he stared down at her. Kagome had barely awakened but he was already there, seeking to comfort her, to make her happy once more, despite the hardships of the well closing on her. It pained her to remember that, to think of how her mother would soon begin to feel the lengthened period of absence, of how she would begin to wonder what was happening to delay her daughter. What would Souta think when no word came, when neither Kagome or Inuyasha appeared out of the well to tell them what was going on?

_They'll think we're both dead._ She felt the pain at such a thought, felt the press of tears at the back of her eyes and the cold lump of grief form in her throat.

Inuyasha pushed those thoughts out of her mind, forcefully. He scowled down at her and shifted so that his body was more directly placed over hers. He now dominated her sight, all of her senses—very deliberately. Kisses smothered the brief spasm of grief in her face, teeth nipped over her neck and shoulders, then back to her lips.

_You can't do anything about that, Kagome._ He sent the thought with surprising coherence considering the arousal she could feel rolling from him through the link, _Stop worrying, stop hurting yourself. Your mother and Souta would never want you to do that._

She closed her eyes against the tears that sprang into them at that. It was true, she realized. Opening to his kisses, Kagome reached out, taking his shoulders, feeling the strong muscle beneath the smooth skin. Her fingers found the crease of his spine running the full length of his back, sandwiched there by strong, firm muscles. He growled against her neck, responding to her stroking touch.

Using the link, she found the spots that he reacted to the most, gasping, growling, and shivering. Any coherent thought ceased to exist; there was only want and desire.

And then, after the climax, they lied together, still entangled about each other, refusing to let go. Darkness was slowly descending on the world outside, Inuyasha's heart was quickening again as the moon rose, whispering to the youkai blood within him, urging him onward yet again. Kagome could hear it fluttering away, even under the thick muscles, ribs, and scars covering it.

She spread the fingers of her left hand out over his chest, heard the rain outside pick up once more with fatter, thicker droplets. A night rain.

One of his hands began migrating, first sweeping up her waist toward her shoulders, then making a dive for a breast. She peeked at him with one eye and saw that he had not opened his eyes; indeed even the link was quiet except for the usual flow of desire from him. Yet as she watched his wandering hand tweaked a nipple then swooped lower, skimming her waist again and then tickling at her hip…

_You're not sleeping._ Kagome stopped his wandering hand at her hip, staring at his closed lids. _I'm hungry, Inuyasha. We should head back; the others will be worried about us._

His face rippled with displeasure, his hand fought with hers, struggling to push it aside. _No they won't. They know I'm with you._ Kagome didn't fail to miss the heavy suggestion his thoughts carried. He knew that the others knew about the change in their relationship and allowed it to progress unhindered. He saw no reason to bother returning to check in—_especially_ not as his youkai blood was beginning to stir, filling him with need all over again.

Kagome laid her head against his chest, groaning. _I'm hungry, aren't you hungry?_

Bad question. He was hungry, but not for food.

His wandering hand broke free, traveling unrestrainedly. Kagome tried to stop him, but her efforts were feeble. The hanyou understood what felt best to her through the link and he used it with more and more accuracy each and every time they tackled each other. She could no better resist him than the raindrops outside could resist gravity. In time her own arousal caught up and even surpassed his.

The hanyou moved aggressively then, pinning her beneath him, attacking her face and neck and anything else within reach with his mouth and nips with his canines. It was with his usual great restraint so as not to hurt her and yet still satisfy some ancient, primeval need he had to use his teeth.

And then, through the splattering raindrops outside, a small, childish voice came floating on the wind. _"Inuyasha! Kagome! Kagome!"_

The hanyou's ear, stark white in the darkness, twitched, jerking toward the sound long before he stopped his assault on Kagome. His brain was wired and tuned to only one thing at that moment, and everything else could go to hell. Senses might register other things but Inuyasha's higher brain functions had ceased to bother interpreting them. Kagome, meanwhile, was at about the same level of helplessness, adding in the fact that her human ears were not nearly as keen…

The voice came again, closer and louder this time. "Kagome! Inuyasha? Where are you?"

This time Kagome heard the sound, though it was still faint—too faint for normal human ears to pick up. Alarm shot through her and to Inuyasha through the link. She mved suddenly, bumping her head against his in the dark.

Groaningly, Inuyasha pulled away slightly, though he didn't let go of Kagome. He shook his head, flattened his ears, blinking at the blackness, trying to regain control. His breathing was fast, rough; he could feel his heartbeat pulsing wildly within him. The beat resounded throughout his body; he could feel certain unmentionable parts beating in time with it. (A/N: I'm sorry, I had to add that, sorry! I'm dying right about now.)

"Kagome! Inuyasha!" the voice shouted again, closer still, now within normal human hearing range.

Kagome stared at the hanyou with wide, dazed eyes. "Shippo."

His ears turned backward at once, his mind buzzed with sudden, fierce aggression. "I'll _kill him."_

"No," she reached for him, trying to stop him, but Inuyasha reacted to her touch by pouncing on her, pinning her again beneath him. He growled down at her, nipped at her jaw line. "Inuyasha…" she gasped, trying to fight him. _Stop it. Shippo's coming…_

It wouldn't do any good. The moon had risen; Inuyasha was a primal creature now, driven by his lusty need. She felt his mind twisting, trying to fight his own instincts. His breath was slowing slightly, Kagome could feel his thoughts trying to come back, but it was an uphill battle, one he was more likely to lose than win.

Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes, Kagome reached down inside herself and drew on the spiritual energy there, just a thread of it, a tiny string. She sent this pulse up through her arms, into Inuyasha's shoulders. The hanyou froze on her, quivering, but he was _resisting_ the energy, fighting it or withstanding it. This only lasted for a brief second, and then he at last gave in, rolling away.

As Kagome sat up, concern and remorse at what she'd had to do niggling at her in the back of her mind, she expected to see Inuyasha's human black hair, his entire body actually transformed by her power—but she was in for a surprise. Inuyasha had not been transformed this time by her energy. Long strands of his wild fair hair covered his long, honey-skinned back, his hands were still clawed, his dog ears flicked, lying back with irritation. He opened an eye that was very clearly gold and peeked at her.

"Inuyasha…" she blinked stupidly, gaping. "It didn't…I'm sorry…" she touched tentatively on the link trying to feel the hanyou's thoughts. Was he sane again and in control of his own actions? She sighed with relief when she realized that he was—and very frustrated with her.

"Dammit! That hurt!" he growled, scowling. "Think you could be more careful next time, bitch?"

"Inuyasha?" the still as yet naked couple turned to look as one at the door, eyes widened with horror. Shippo's voice calling had been just barely outside the door that time. They panicked, scrambling to find their clothes. Inuyasha cursed colorfully under his breath while Kagome could only blush, her face felt as if it were on fire.

When Inuyasha had found his hakama pants he flung the fire rat haori at Kagome—who was still struggling with her own clothes—and instructed her through the link. _Cover up; I'm going to kill that stupid kit._

_Inuyasha!_ She tried to scold him but the hanyou refused to listen to her, pushing her thoughts away from her the same way he might bat away a restraining touch. He moved to the door and a second later stepped out into the night rain. Kagome heard him start growling at once.

"Shippo? What the hell are you doing out here? Go back to Kaede's!"

Kagome took the distraction, scrambling for her socks, pulling them on, and then pawing through the darkness searching for the kimono she'd taken to wearing. There were two parts to it, much like Sango's. One was long and robe-like, a green cloth, light for the summer. The other was a sari-wrap skirt, yellow and white, like wildflowers. She found them and began to fight with putting them on.

Outside Shippo was grunting, probably struggling as Inuyasha held him in some uncomfortable grip. "I was looking for you and Kagome!" his tone clearly indicated that he thought Inuyasha was pretty dumb for asking that question, "I know what you're doing out here." He made a noise of disgust and then cried out, likely hit over the head by the irritated hanyou.

"Get lost, Shippo." Inuyasha growled.

"No! I came to tell you something the others won't tell you!" he was grunting and struggling, but there was a note of desperation in his tone that Kagome heard as she tied the sash on her kimono. He was near tears. Sighing, she ran her fingers through her hair, trying to straighten it up. A slow disbelief was beginning to settle into her as she remembered—from a sane, non-aroused state of mind—everything that had gone on in the semi privacy of the inside of the hut. (A/N: Anyone else been there and had the OMG feeling?)

"What?" Inuyasha asked, paying a little more attention now.

"Miroku knows something about Naraku's plan!"

There was a silence; even the rain seemed to respect it. Kagome's fingers paused on her sari-wrap, her face furrowed in a frown. _Inuyasha, what is he talking about?_

"What are you talking about, runt?" the hanyou repeated her unspoken question word for word.

When Shippo spoke again Kagome could clearly hear his tears, and that Inuyasha was holding him—probably upside down and by the tail. "Someone told Miroku that Naraku is going to use the link against you! He would do it, Inuyasha!" the kit's words began to break up as he fell into hysterical crying, "If Naraku u-u-uses y-your link…"

Kagome hurried out of the door, only taking a moment to drape Inuyasha's haori over herself before coming to comfort Shippo. It was dark outside. As the night rain fell over her, the raindrops smacking into her hair and running down her scalp were quite cold, she felt a brief streak of pain as she realized it was nearly autumn. Soon the trees would lose their leaves, burning with color. It had been late spring the last time she'd seen her mother, Gramps, and Souta…so long…

Shippo saw her, his little eyes glowed a ghostly green in the darkness, and he squirmed, still sobbing, in Inuyasha's hold. And sure enough, the irritated hanyou held the kit upside down by the tail. He sobbed and reached out for Kagome, whimpering and begging helplessly. _"Kagome! Mama!"_

"Let him go, Inuyasha."

The hanyou growled but did as she asked. The kit leapt at her and buried himself in her chest, still sobbing and trying to speak incoherently. Kagome patted him and shushed him as if he was a baby, but her eyes traveled to Inuyasha worriedly. The hanyou returned her gaze, his eyes reflected bright gold in the night, eerie and breathtaking at once. The link showed her that he was worried, deeply, over something, but he hid most of it from her and turned his gaze away.

"Shippo, it's okay. Inuyasha and I are safe." She tweaked his little fox ears and smoothed his fluffed tail—it got that way when he was particularly stressed or upset. "Why don't we go back to Kaede's and I'll give you some treats out of my bag?"

That was a real bargain because Shippo and Kagome both understood that such treats were only going to run out. She had stopped giving him sweets months ago, and advised him not to sneak them when she wasn't looking as well, because she was trying to save them. Shippo had been good about it and as a result there were still treats to give him at this moment.

He nodded against her but his crying didn't stop; only subsided slightly.

Inuyasha made a quiet sound, "Feh." From his spot a few feet away. Through the link Kagome got sketchy things, the hanyou's lingering nighttime desire and lust from the mating season, his irritation at having been interrupted by the kit, his faint fear and worry at the Shippo's words, and finally, some other fear that he kept hidden. Yet, though Kagome could learn nothing else about this last fear without prying a little, which she knew Inuyasha didn't want at the moment, she knew that it was the last fear that made the hanyou's palms sweat, his stomach twist…

Something was wrong—Inuyasha was _panicky._

Kagome stroked Shippo's ears again and let out a sigh. "Well, let's head back and hear the rest of this from Miroku."

"Feh." Was the only response Inuyasha gave before he scooped her up and dashed off, leaping fast over the ground as only he could.

* * *

"Yes," Miroku sighed, closing his eyes, "What Shippo says is true." He leaned his staff onto one shoulder and hid his hands deep in his purple-black sleeves. "A contact of mine informed me that Naraku plans to use…" he opened his eyes and stared between Inuyasha and Kagome without the slightest hint of lechery, which was very unusual considering the topic, "…the closeness tat has sprung up between you both."

Inuyasha scowled, losing patience. He got to his feet and began pacing around the fire stiffly. "What the hell is that supposed to mean."

Sango answered him, staring at Kagome regretfully as she spoke, "The link you share. Demon slayers often use links against mated demons." She blushed a little at the word mated and avoided looking at either Inuyasha or Kagome then, but Miroku wasn't a safe spot either. She stared into the fire at last. "It's a cruel tactic, but very effective."

The response from Inuyasha was a low growl, very doglike. Kagome appeared not even to be paying attention to the conversation. She was busy with the kit in her lap, comforting him. Shippo's crying had mostly stopped, but he was always at the edge, ready to burst into tears. Now the kit spoke from her lap and began sobbing again.

"The Thunder Brothers used Mama and Daddy's link." He shook and then flung himself into Kagome's chest, "I don't want you to die!"

"She ain't gonna die, runt!" Inuyasha shouted, snarling. But through his bluster, Kagome could feel the fear coursing through her hanyou. In the physical world he appeared to bristle with tension and rage, as was usual when there was a threat to any of them, but underneath it, with the help of the link, Kagome knew the reality of his mind. He was like Shippo but in a different way—not near sobbing and tears, but near panic, near a sort of madness at the thought of losing her.

Their eyes locked for a moment and the bristling outer shell crumbled as she stared at him, his golden eyes softened, his ears collapsed, his face quivered, caught between an expression of rage and despair…and then he recovered and began pacing again. And as he moved he fought with the link, hiding his emotions from Kagome as much as he could.

Miroku, Sango, and Kaede went on with their conversation, unaware of what had passed below the surface. "Links are very useful for teamwork between the couples but it's a weakness as much as a strength." Sango was saying, her expression was somber and saddened, "There are many ways that it can be turned against them."

Kaede was nodding. "Hm. Yes, and essentially Naraku has defeated Inuyasha this way before…"

The hanyou rounded on Kaede, his face a wild mask of rage—but Kagome cringed, feeling the explosion of terror that awoke within the hanyou along with the outrage. "You stupid old bitch! That was completely different!" his amber eyes were wild, his clawed hands fidgeted.

The others scowled at the outburst, but Kaede remained stoically unaffected. "It was very much the same. You were very close with my sister, Inuyasha. I see you have not forgotten it either. Naraku is a shape-shifter. He deceived Kikyo, and Kagome is her reincarnation…"

Kagome blanched and frowned, feeling suddenly sick. "You know, I'm sitting right here." She scowled at Kaede, feeling a little of Inuyasha's wrath spilling over into her.

Kaede stared at her with her one eye, sorrowfully. "I am sorry, child. Yet it is the truth. Inuyasha did not share a link like this with my sister, but the deception could still work."

"She's right." A single tear coursed its way down Sango's face as she stared sightlessly into the fire, "In my village we had several ways to use a link against mated demons. It was always cruel," her voice changed, becoming bitter, "Naraku would enjoy it much more than simple combat. He's always liked trickery and suffering. This makes too much sense."

"He's hiding—we have most of the shards." Inuyasha stuttered abruptly, still pacing around the circle. "He can't be that hard to kill anymore." His clawed hands curled into fists at his side, "I'll hunt him down alone if I have to dammit—I'm not fucking afraid of him!"

"What did your village do most often, Sango?" Miroku asked, quietly.

Inuyasha growled at his words as he circled, but said nothing coherent.

Sango followed the hanyou with her eyes for a time and then sighed, shaking a little. "We caught one separate from the other and killed it. The mate would come regardless—insane with the loss. They are clumsy then, ready to die after they exact revenge on their mate's killer. We hid away the slayers that had killed the other mate." She shook her head, "They _want_ to die. It takes time but they won't run. They never run. They fight till their last breath."

"Shut up!" Inuyasha growled, "_No_ _one_ is going to _touch_ Kagome!" as if to prove his point, the hanyou stomped back to where the aforementioned girl sat and plucked the whimpering Shippo out of her lap. He squealed, caught by surprise, as Inuyasha threw him at Sango.

As Inuyasha settled down close to Kagome protectively, Kaede cleared her throat. "Why has Naraku waited this long? The link has existed for quite some time. If what ye heard is true, what is Naraku waiting for?"

This drew silence from all assembled, except for Shippo'c continued whimpers. The kit huddled close to Kilala in Sango's lap and shivered. Kilala endured him but let out a soft, tired mewing sound of her own.

From Inuyasha Kagome felt only more wild terror and panic. She fished for his hand but the hanyou jerked it away from her, frowning and pulling his hands deep into his sleeves.

"Perhaps he is gathering the remaining shards, knowing we are distracted." Miroku suggested calmly.

"Maybe he isn't waiting." Sango stroked Shippo and then Kilala back and forth, like a machine set to a task as she spoke, "Maybe the opportunity hasn't presented itself yet."

"Shut up, all of you just shut up!" Inuyasha snarled.

"We can't just pretend this isn't an issue." Miroku sighed. He tapped his staff against his shoulder rhythmically, jangling it. "We have to deal with it."

"But what do we do?" Sango glanced at all of them, except for Shippo and Kilala in her lap. "How do we outsmart Naraku? Lady Kaede?"

Kaede shifted, sitting further back on her haunches. She sighed with discomfort, rubbing her hands together, trying to massage the arthritic pain out of them. "It is a difficult position ye have placed before me." She turned to the sulking Inuyasha, who was brooding over a distraught Kagome. "There is no way of course to undo this link—not without driving both of ye mad. It is a permanent arrangement between two souls. That is not a solution."

"Then what can they do, Lady Kaede?" Miroku gestured helplessly around the fire, "What can any of us do?"

"Ye can only remain vigilant. Inuyasha," her single eye found him and pinned him to his spot, "You must watch over Kagome at all times. And Kagome, you must be alert for any unusual auras." She looked at the rest of the group, "_All_ of ye must do this. Work as one to protect them."

* * *

Outside of the village, a small lizard was shutting down for the night. The chilly early autumn rain made his body lethargic and slow. Heartbeat dropped with temperature, energy was saved and stored away. He closed his eyes for the night…

And then opened them again, disturbed.

He had excellent day vision, with very large and complex eyes that moved independently of one another, letting him see nearly 360 degrees, in every direction. He was an insect eater, he needed to be able to pinpoint his prey and snatch them up. Also he needed the clear vision for distinguishing bugs that were experts in trickery—things like walking sticks and beetles that had carapaces like leaves. He was a successful individual, fat enough to survive the winter with hibernation, and skilled enough that he had eaten many bugs in his lifetime without accidentally eating one that was poisonous or dangerous.

So it was a great shame that now what he saw approaching him, crawling steadily along the thick branch above him, was _not_ an insect. It was another lizard, slightly larger than himself.

But wait…it was _not_ a lizard. Its eyes reflected light like differently, revealing that it was a creature with night vision, a creature with a warm body, a fast heartbeat. It was not a slave to the temperature around it as the mortal lizard was.

The lizard was not smart enough to truly feel fear, but it did understand danger well enough. Warm blooded animals that hunted in the night ate sleeping lizards. No matter what this new creature slinking along the branch _looked_ like it was _not_ a true mortal lizard.

The lizard roused his sluggish body, but the rain had chilled the night too much. In a dreamlike way the lizard watched as the strange, shiny-eyed newcomer plopped down on top of his own cold body and pinned him beneath its terrible, sickening warmth. It was still too cold to really feel pain as the new monster bit his head and began to draw him into his mouth, headfirst like a snake. His most terrible suffering at this end would be that as a cold blooded animal he did not need to breathe for a long, long time. It was not suffocation that would kill him, but perhaps the crushing throat muscles of the monster that had eaten him whole. He might even live to feel the creature's stomach acids…

Eki swallowed the lizard whole, despite the fact that the lizard was not much smaller than him. He rested on the branch after the meal was consumed, eyes closed, establishing a slow link with his master.

_The energies have changed. They brood, all of them, considering death, strife. They anticipate attack and are bound strongly as one because of it._

_They will not anticipate you. Have you consumed the mortal lizards as I've instructed?_

Eki flicked his tongue out, tasting the night air. It was rich and thick with the remnants of the autumn rain. _Yes, Master._

_Good. Continue to hunt them. Absorb their weak, mortal energy and use it to mask your own. You must feel and appear as a normal animal when you make the attack. Do you understand?_

_Yes, Master._ Eki tasted the night again and opened his eyes slowly, staring at the lights of the village in the distance. _When will the attack come? Surely not now…?_

_Not now. _His master answered, throwing the lizard mild amusement. _They have not splintered. But it will be very soon now, a matter of days. You must watch her aura, it will change. They will splinter then, and he will be weak. You will move in at that moment—bite her. The rest will fall as I desire it then._

Eki paused, flicking his tongue out twice more before he at last reached out with a final question to his master. _I will live and be set free, Master?_ He enjoyed the wilderness, the taste of insects, the slow bafflement of the mice and other higher vertebrates that he could kill at a whim. Even the puzzlement of the mortal lizard before he ate it, as it realized that he was not just another lizard, had delighted him. Servitude did not bother Eki, but as he had once been apart of Naraku's greater whole he understood that minions were often carelessly tossed aside and slaughtered.

The answer from his master was cold. _You will live._

Eki closed his eyes, tasted the autumn rain again, and smelled it with this tongue. That was enough, to live was all he could wish for. _Thank you._

* * *

_**A/N: I would have written more for Mrs. H for this chapter, but her storyline has to be sorta savored and extended b/c I have a lot to cover in the Feudal Era. BUT her storyline will only grow more astonishing the way I have it planned out. We will understand why the families in the modern era are so skittish. And they DO have a reason, perhaps multiple reasons. Until next time…here's a preview:**_

"_Please," I breathed, "Just let me go home…"_

"_Nope, I can't do that Lady Higurashi." His voice was solemn now. "I promised my father that I'd educate you, and that's what's going to go down." He jerked a thumb at the bookcase closest to his computer. "My books. I'm a historian of sorts. I enjoy classic human literature. I've traveled to America, to Europe. I know humans very well, Lady Higurashi." He stared at me unflinchingly, with a seriousness I'd never imagined him capable of. "But the truth is; I'm one very lucky bastard."_


	29. New Moon

A/N: Wow, I always speak too soon. This story is flowing more smoothly now…things happening a little faster now. My last chapter may be new to many of you still, it seems FFnet is slow lately about getting out the notifying emails out, so if the last chapter seems totally foreign to you READ it! And If this chapter is too weird in the beginning especially, you probably need to read the last one too...plus I am a review whore, I love hearing from you guys, it keeps me coming back again and again.

Disclaimer: I do not own them

* * *

Last chapter: In the future, **Shippo** lead **Mrs. H** out of his home and **Shinku** met her and took her away. They're afraid of the **Taishita. **(That's **Sesshomaru.**) In the past **Inuyasha and Kagome** were recovering from the mating season. **Shippo** interrupted them (that's where the title comes from) and told them about **Naraku's** supposed plot to use their link against them. Inuyasha is concerned about many things, but there is something he is refusing to tell Kagome. She has not pressed about it yet. **Miroku, Sango, Kaede** and Inuyasha and Kagome and Shippo discussed the potential plot that Naraku might be hatching against them. The talk was rather heated and tense. Particularly when Kaede compared Kagome to Kikyo, and said the deception could well work again. Kaede charged them all with looking out for each other. **Eki, the demon lizard, Naraku's latest spying minion**, discussed the timing of the attack on the shard hunters.

Family names: **Taishita:** Sesshomaru's surname. **Byakko:** Shippo's surname.That's all that's important for this chapter, I'm too lazy to write out the rest for now.

* * *

**New Moon**

I came awake suddenly, gasping. When I saw electric lights in the ceiling I thought for a moment that I was home, that indeed everything had been a dream, a terrific nightmare. But then I smelled the cigarette smoke.

Souta doesn't smoke and neither do I.

I sat up cautiously, wrinkling my nose up at the stink, and realized that the bed I was lying on was not my own. Even the lights, though they were electric, they cast a different shade than my own. These were a sickly yellow and dimmer too. The room was smoky. I could see it up high, further blocking the light.

The walls were plastered with movie posters. I saw movies from all the different eras. Modern, 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, and older than that still. _Gone With The Wind_ was plastered beside _Tokyo Drift. Princess Mononoke_ beside _Blade Runner._ There were also pictures of naked women, or mostly naked women.

"Welcome back, Lady Higurashi."

I turned my head to see the speaker of the voice, though in the pit of my stomach I felt I already knew it. I felt sick again already. And sure enough, when I finally saw him, I knew the speaker well enough. He was a terrible redhead. In the light he had freckles, and when he grinned his canines gave him the appearance of a predator, they were too sharp. His smile was too mischievous, too wide to be human.

He was Shinku.

"Where am I? What are we doing here?" I frowned at myself, hardly understanding why I was even bothering to ask such questions. I didn't think I wanted to know the answer. And the more important question was, "What are you going to do to me?"

Shinku laughed, blowing cigarette smoke out his nose and mouth. I felt my face wrinkling with disgust at it. I've always hated smoke. My throat was already beginning to dry up just breathing the stuff.

"I'm going to educate you, because my father is a pussy." His grin never faded, his eyes, I noticed oddly that they were a bright blue in this human like form, twinkled.

It was very rude of him to speak of his father in such a way, and though I felt the urge to try and scold him, it occurred to me that I was at this _fox's_ mercy, it was not a good idea. I didn't trust Shinku one bit. The pictures of naked women on his walls didn't do much to help me feel comfortable either.

"I just want to go home." I sat up slowly, mindful of my stomach and the ever-present nausea. How long had it been since I'd eaten?

Shinku took another long draw on his cigarette and blew it out in my direction. I turned my face away, scowling at the window. Traffic lights were outside, tall high rise buildings. We were in the city…

"Beautiful view." Shinku said, gesturing at the window when I looked back at him. "My father doesn't appreciate the city. That and of course, he's afraid of it."

"Afraid of it?" the idea seemed preposterous, that a youkai, an immortal creature would be afraid of a _human, mortal_ city. "Is it the noise? The lights?" I asked, genuinely perplexed.

"Yeah, but I get on just fine." He waved a hand at the room. I looked now for the first time. There was a computer on a messy old desk. The flooring was wooden and old, dusty. Clothing lied scattered about; the place had a faint odor underneath the stale smoke smell of old laundry. The most prominent thing about this tiny scrappy apartment were the bookcases. Shinku had bookcases in every corner, lining every wall. I squinted, trying to read the titles. Some of the books looked very old, leather bound, falling apart at the seams.

"Ah." Shinku murmured, smirking. "You've noticed my collection. I may not look it, and my father may not give me any credit, but I am a learned man." When I looked back at him his smirk became a grin, "Well, not a man I guess. Living with humans makes one forget sometimes." But his grin told me that was a lie, he was always aware of his differences, of his power. He had just learned to _speak_ as if he were human.

"Right." I kept my tone neutral. The place, the messiness, the stink of the smoke, my nervousness, all of it was conspiring to make me feel sick. I felt a headache fast approaching. The night had been exhausting, overwhelming. I glanced back at the bed I was sitting on, at the ruffled sheets, the stains on the old comforters, old food on some plates lying around it…and a box of condoms up on the nightstand.

"Can't be making any hanyous of my own." Shinku laughed at me and reached for the box, tossing it carelessly onto the messy desk with its computer. The screensaver was more naked women. I felt my stomach churning.

"Please," I breathed, "Just let me go home…"

"Nope, I can't do that Lady Higurashi." His voice was solemn now. "I promised my father that I'd educate you, and that's what's going to go down." He jerked a thumb at the bookcase closest to his computer. "My books. I'm a historian of sorts. I enjoy classic human literature. I've traveled to America, to Europe. I know humans _very_ well, Lady Higurashi." He stared at me unflinchingly, with a seriousness I'd never imagined him capable of. "But the truth is; I'm one very lucky bastard."

I didn't say anything; there wasn't anything I could say because frankly I thought he was crazy. My expression must have revealed what I was thinking because Shinku broke his solemnity and grinned, but it was a tight look, underneath it I could see that he was serious still.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" he smirked.

I turned away, looking instead at the window. The lights and city traffic were comfortingly human while I was inside that smoky room with Shinku, who I was suddenly aware was absolutely inhuman. I felt my skin crawl, remembering the condoms on the nightstand. Lifting my hands off the bed I tucked them into my lap disgustedly, tucked myself down into a sort of protective ball.

Shinku sighed. "I'll say it simply then, Lady Higurashi," his use of my name in such formal, respective terms, made me shudder. There was a tone of mocking in it. "Humans rule the world now. They have ever since I was born about a hundred years ago. It wasn't always that way." I could hear the grin in his voice; I didn't turn away from the city, from the fresh, crisp, cold night air creeping in through the window, letting out the stink of smoke.

"I'm going to give you a history lesson that no one else can, Lady Higurashi. Tell me, did you ever wonder when your daughter came home with these stories of hers, about hanyous and youkai and kitsune boys like my father—did you ever wonder what happened to them?"

I closed my eyes on the lights and sounds of the city and sighed. "I wondered about Kagome everyday, I worried, what kind of mother would I be if I hadn't?" my voice quavered with the same old pain. It was like a scar, never fading quite all the way, never the same and sometimes, when times were hard, it hurt just as much as if it were a fresh wound.

"No, no. I mean did you ever wonder why you never saw demons here, now?"

I shook my head, "No, I didn't." and then I paused, remembering things Souta had told me over the years, a few times when Kagome might bring something back with her, or discovered something in the shrine's archives that was actually very dangerous, a demon waiting to spring or a curse written into wood or stone… "No," I corrected myself, "I didn't wonder because I knew they _do _exist now, but…"

"Yes, they do exist." As I turned to watch him, Shinku dipped the butt of his cigarette into a small astray on his messy desk. I wondered how he avoided burning the place down with the papers so close to the swirling, oily smoke. "And many more than you ever thought—but in _hiding._ And yes, they are not in the same numbers as five hundred years ago." He cleared his throat, "Five hundred years ago humans did not rule Japan. Youkai did."

"Why hide?" I frowned, "Why do you pretend to be human? Why didn't Shippo come looking for me before?" I stopped myself, there were too many whys. Too many questions that needed answering. I was likely to go insane before Shinku answered any of them.

"Humans." He grinned without mirth, "That answers all three of your questions, Lady Higurashi. I hide myself because of humans. I pretend to be human because it's what humans expect me to be. And my father," he pulled a red lighter with the silhouette of a fox on it out of his shirt pocket and began playing with it, flicking it on and off, "Did not try to find you because he is afraid of what humans would do to him. Even you."

"That doesn't make any sense."

Shinku smiled down at the lighter, running his thumb in and out of the small flame. "It doesn't, does it? But that is what five hundred years of history has done. Humans rule Japan now; they did not five hundred years ago. It won't be long now before the whole lot of us are extinct, breeding into your human population. The Tetsusaigas were just some of the first."

I felt my throat catch, I had trouble speaking, it came out as a whisper. "Tell me what happened to my daughter. I don't care about any of the rest…"

Shinku lifted his mischievous blue eyes at me and I froze, feeling that I had made some sort of grave mistake. When he grinned his canines gleamed predatorily. "By the time I'm done telling you all this—you'll care."

He flicked the lighter shut. "It begins now."

* * *

Inuyasha had lost control again. Kagome could feel his increasing struggle as the night wore on.

The rain had increased, drumming on the roof loudly above them. The Shard hunters were spread out around Kaede's hut, the coals in the fire hissed as occasionally a raindrop slipped through and landed in them. Miroku had started snoring lightly, Sango was wheezing through her nose, or perhaps it was Kilala who was doing that, Kagome couldn't be sure. Kaede always snored in the next room, loud as the buzz of a chainsaw. Shippo was curled as usual against her stomach, kicking in the throes of some silly, innocent fox dream.

All the sounds of the night seemed excruciatingly loud. The rumble of someone's stomach set Kagome on edge, making her sweat. A cough might send her into a panic. She wasn't sure anymore whether the tension was her own or Inuyasha's, spilling over through the link and into her.

She fidgeted beneath her sleeping bag. Shippo breath, when he exhaled at her face, smelled like stale chocolate. She had never counted on her treats lasting for month at a time. Stale or not Shippo had eaten it and now the smell on his breath made Kagome queasy.

And Inuyasha wasn't helping any. He tried to sleep, but it was fitfully. Kagome heard his movement, the rustle of his hakama and haori, the scrape of the untransformed Tetsusaiga over the floor, even once she thought she heard a gentle flap as he moved his dog ears.

He hadn't eaten much that evening, after the somber talk of Naraku she couldn't blame him for losing any appetite. But it wasn't that, she knew, the hanyou had forsaken food for a long time now. The mating season seemed to rob him of all other desires. When Miroku had groped Sango he hadn't even added a word, and when Shippo had attacked him, Inuyasha had all but ignored him.

She worried about him, wondering how long the season was supposed to last…

And then she remembered the moon. It was waning now, which meant that soon Inuyasha would undergo his transformation and be human for a night. That would probably spell the end of his mating season madness. She risked sighing aloud, thinking that she would not miss it too much, a return of control might be a good thing. She tried to bury her own worries, her own internal embarrassment at their lack of control, at the potential consequences…

Inuyasha stirred in his corner as well as within their link. Tetsusaiga clanked on the floor, fabric whispered as it was rubbed together. Through the link Kagome felt his nervousness, his uncertainty—and his desire. _Sleep._ He commanded her.

_I would if I could._ She shot back.

Guilt flowed from Inuyasha and into her. Kagome realized why with a jolt. She had become a nocturnal creature because of the mating season; it was affecting her just as it did Inuyasha. He couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep. They were driven to each other above all else.

_Kagome…_ It was a call, a summons of sorts. He'd called her this way before, and she had submitted, giving in, but now she resisted.

_No, Inuyasha, we can't. _She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight the flutter of her own desire. Was it really her desire, or his? It was impossible to tell and Kagome didn't think trying to figure that out was worth the effort. Her body did not care what her mind told it, it only knew the drive, and it didn't care whose desire it responded to, only that it responded and eagerly at that. _There's no birth control in the Feudal Era._

She hadn't meant the thought to spill over to the hanyou but he heard it anyway and had a mixed reaction. Partly he was wounded, but mostly he was terrified. Again Kagome felt the brush of the same secret fear he'd been plagued with before, earlier in the day. The fear was enough to stave off the lust brought on by the mating season, so Kagome decided that now was as good a time as any to push him for an answer.

_What are you hiding?_

She heard the hanyou's back thump against his wall through the darkness. _What?_

_You're hiding something, Inuyasha. I can feel it. What are you so afraid of?_

The hanyou scrambled to hide his thoughts, even to try and jam the link, to withdraw from her, but Kagome latched onto him, refusing to let go. _Stop running away, Inuyasha!_ She had the urge to say _sit_ to him for good measure, but restrained herself. She hadn't used the subduing spell in a long time and didn't want to use it now. She decided to try another tactic and sent feelings of hurt to him. _Don't you trust me?_

There was a very quiet growl that passed through the dark from his corner. _Stop trying to manipulate me, bitch!_

He'd caught on. She sighed, aloud. _Please…?_

A scratch of clawed hands on the floor reached her, and then his answer. _You don't want to know._

_If it scares you so much then yes, I do want to know!_ She let her concern flow to him, and received only nervousness in return. He'd fallen silent, fighting another wave of mating season induced lust. Kagome heard his breathing pick up slightly with growing tension—and then she realized that she could hear _everyone's_ breathing if she listened for them.

_What's wrong with me?_ She asked herself, frowningly. Inuyasha heard the thought and grabbed it up, eager for a distraction.

_The link has given you better senses…_

Kagome caught something in those words. They weren't Inuyasha's own. He was regurgitating that information from some other source. Who would tell him important information like that? Kagome could only think of one creature…

_Myoga told you that?_

There was a long pause from Inuyasha, though Inuyasha had clearly understood her question he was uncertain how to answer it, which seemed very odd to Kagome. Yet as she took in ever little slip and inkling of information that Inuyasha's mind let out, a slow dawning of understanding began to form. The secret he was keeping from her had something to do with Myoga, or maybe was some tidbit of news that Myoga had brought.

Finally Inuyasha replied truthfully. _Yeah, so?_

_What else did he tell you?_

That drew the deep fear she'd been looking for and confirmed her suspicions. Inuyasha answered this question at once, and revealed himself as a very poor liar. _Nothing._

_Why are you lying to me?_

She realized as he reacted to her thought that she had pushed him too far. He wasn't going to tell her now; the only thing she succeeded in doing was frustrating the hanyou and irritating him. Whatever he feared he covered up with his usual blustering anger, and that had not changed in the many years she'd known him. Anger spiked at her, thrown through the link and Kagome cringed in her sleeping bag and heard another small growl come at her through the dark.

_Just leave it alone will you?_ He snapped at her, _It doesn't fucking matter, okay? Drop it! _

Withdrawing, Kagome rolled onto her side and pressed her head into her pillow, taking a deep breath. Inuyasha's emotions seethed at her, she could almost feel them. His trouble became her own, and still she couldn't sleep.

Shippo stretched against her, yawned innocently. Kagome peeked at him, seeing the tiny slivers of his ghostly green eyes mostly closed for a moment before he turned and began snuggling into her once more, returning to slumber. Kagome envied him.

Miroku moaned in his sleep, half-forming a name. To her ears in the past it might've sounded like _"Sssssgo,"_ but to her new enhanced hearing it was clearly: _"Ssssango…"_

Inuyasha snorted in his corner, apparently hearing the same thing. "Feh." Then he fell into silence again, battling his urges, the instincts of his youkai blood. After an unknown amount of time, Kagome heard him rise to his feet. The floor creaked beneath him as he moved, his clothing whispered with strange sounds Kagome had never noticed before. She stared through the dark, tense and alert, as he passed her by. She could hear his claws grating ever so softly against the metal of his sword. His eyes landed on her through the dark, she was sure of it, but she didn't twist round to look. Then she heard the flap of Kaede's hut lift and fall back down with a slapping sound. Inuyasha's footsteps disappeared outside, becoming slowly fainter. He moved slowly, not running as she had anticipated.

Frustrated, angry though she wasn't quite sure why, Kagome curled into a ball on her side, cupping tiny Shippo between her stomach and her thighs. _Mama, I miss you. _She stroked the kit's red hair, tweaked his ears. And as he kicked in his sleep and smiled in response to her touch, she thought about herself as a child, curled in her own mother's lap, sleeping between her parents before her father had died…

She cried a few tears, mourning the loss of both her family and her era, as well as the loss of her childhood, the innocent days when her entire world had been in one time frame. There hadn't been a well, there were no demons, no Naraku, no Kikyo, no Inuyasha.

Wiping the tears away bitterly, she dismissed the thoughts. Would she really have chosen, knowing how she'd end up, to never fall down the well, to never come to the Feudal Era? She considered it for a time, allowing that to entertain her mind. Out in the forest somewhere she knew with the aid of the link that Inuyasha was tearing apart the forest with his rage, cursing, shouting, anything that would alleviate his unspent frustration, anger, and most importantly, his longing.

She wished bitterly to be in his arms, without worry, without thought of what it might cost her, cost them both. What was Naraku planning? Could they survive when the plot was aimed at _them?_ And destroying them with their own need for one another?

And just as the sun began to peek over in the east, rising for a new day to begin, Kagome decided that yes, in spite of all of the difficulty, all of the frustration and tumultuous emotional roller coaster, yes, she would always have chosen the well, the shards, Naraku, Kikyo, Kilala, Shippo, Miroku, Sango, Kaede, and Inuyasha. But if she'd known it would cost her family…? _No, I would have chosen Mama, Souta, Gramps…_

Out in the forest she could feel Inuyasha listening to her thoughts. He understood her decision, would even have agreed if she'd asked him, but in spite of it he was still wounded. Along with that downtrodden mindset came exhaustion and hunger finally. The lust of the mating season had finally dissipated.

And in Kaede's hut, just as Miroku stirred groggily and groped the still sleeping Sango, Kagome's eyelids at last grew heavy as stones. Moments later, even through Sango's shouting at the perverted monk as she beat him, Kagome was asleep.

* * *

The night of the new moon came, just a few days later. Inuyasha had maintained his distance in the intervening time. He reminded Kagome of a beaten dog, cowering before its owner and slinking off, avoiding any further wrath. The entire group was still subdued, but enjoying the break from travel and shard hunting nonetheless. The talk of Naraku and his plots remained heavy on their minds, but though they remained alert there was nothing out of the ordinary around the village, and lives went on, heedless.

In the evening, before the sunset, the group made sure to return to Kaede's hut. Inuyasha stayed inside as the sun began to set, though he complained bitterly about it. Kagome stayed outside, not far away and always within sight of Sango and Miroku. Shippo and Kilala played with one another, romping about in a way that reminded Kagome of puppies. Miroku and Sango were talking quietly, bickering a little perhaps.

Kagome watched both Shippo and Kilala, but also the rice and crop fields, the water shining in them, bright gold and pick as the sun was setting. The air was very clear and crisp, much more so than her world could ever offer. She twiddled her thumbs, considering trying the well again and then dismissing it. Each time she tried it and the well failed to transport her home, she only had to mourn the loss over. She was beginning to lose hope and trying to imagine that it was indeed possible for her to live in the Feudal Era for the rest of her life.

Fears still plagued her. What if she made a mistake? Met someone she wasn't supposed to, influenced someone not to do something that they otherwise would have. Anything could destroy time, could affect perhaps even her own future. In the Feudal era she would have many ancestors and various relatives, most of which she would know _nothing_ about… (A/N: Seriously, you never know. Has anyone else seen the episode of Futurama where Phillip J. Fry goes back in time and accidentally becomes his own grandfather? Yeah, it's pretty friggin sweet.)

Glancing at Miroku and Sango, she shuddered, thinking, _I could be related to them and never know it. Maybe Kohaku was a distant grandfather and I'm supposed to save him?_

Inuyasha inserted his own comment there sarcastically through the link. _Yeah, and maybe Naraku too._

She scowled. _Stop it, Inuyasha, you don't understand. The farther back in time the more ancestors you have. I could be staring at some of them now…_ She turned her gaze back to the rice fields, watching as the workers moved through them with their sunhats still on, ducking low every so often to do something.

But Inuyasha had withdrawn away from her again, protectively. He was trying to preserve his secrets, whatever they may be, before his transformation at nightfall. He had refused to tell her anything in the days since their first argument about it, and it appeared that new moon or not, he wasn't going to let her know. Of course he was vulnerable now. As the new moon rose up and his youkai blood waned and disappeared with it, Inuyasha was losing his grasp over the link, leaving himself wide open to Kagome, while she, in turn, remained invisible to him.

This would be the only night, monthly, that they would essentially be split from one another.

"Lady Kagome!" Miroku had risen from his place a short distance away at Sango's side and was approaching Kagome. His smile was wide and innocent, the violet eyes warm and friendly—but there was a big red welt on one of his cheeks from where Sango had walloped him. "How are you this fine evening?"

"I'm okay." She looked between Sango and the approaching monk, wary. "What did you say to Sango to make her hit you, Miroku?"

Sango came up behind him and the monk flinched away from her, chuckling once nervously. "He asked me to have his child again."

"Oh, is that all it was." Distractedly, Kagome intertwined her fingers together; playing with them like a child might while intensely bored. But in the grown Kagome it was clearly a sign of some sort of stress.

"Kagome?" Sango asked, noticing her movement, "Are you doing all right?" her chocolate gaze was warm but clearly concerned.

"I'm fine, I was thinking about the well a little." She scowled, turning her face to the sunset. The golden-orange of its light painted her brightly. She squinted against the light.

"I'm sure Lady Kagome is saddened because tonight is the new moon." Miroku put in, "She can't go _alone_ with Inuyasha to _investigate_ it…"

Both young women glared at him for the inappropriate comment, but Miroku continued to smile cheerfully, seemingly unknowing and innocent. They knew him to be anything but those things, yet it was possible that he had made the comment with pure intentions, trying to lighten the mood or at least turn it away from the melancholy tone it had taken.

"Kagome, do you suppose that Lady Kaede could make a subduing spell for Miroku too?" Sango asked in the same cheerful, innocent tone that Miroku had spoken in moments before.

Kagome smirked. "I'm sure she can, Sango. We should get right on that tonight."

Miroku stamped his staff into the ground, jangling it and catching their attention. "Ladies, ladies, I assure you that will not be necessary. Unlike Inuyasha, I can control myself."

Kagome scowled, "You're lucky tonight is the new moon."

"Why?" Miroku asked, withholding his smirk as he looked between the two girls and their disapproving expressions.

"Because Inuyasha didn't hear you."

"Ah, yes, this is the night when he is just one more human." The monk let his staff rest against his shoulder and clapped his hands and then held them together, as if praying. "It falls to me to look after you lovely ladies then…"

"You know, he's going to hear you eventually." Sango warned, "Or _someone_ might just go in there and _tell_ him to come out here and punish you."

Now an openly lecherous grin painted Miroku's face. He turned to face Sango completely and took her hands in his. "Sango, love, certainly you are aware that you may punish me at any time you feel the need. I am dearly in need of it, I should think."

Kagome rolled her eyes and started ignoring them, watching as Shippo raced at her with Kilala trailing fast behind. The kit crashed into her, nuzzling into her neck and panting. "Kagome! Kagome! Save me! Kilala is gonna get me!"

Kagome winced when he hit her and tried to shift his tiny body. "Shippo—be careful, that hurt."

The fire cat skirted around Kagome and leapt onto her shoulder, mewing and then pawing at Shippo. The kit squeaked and fell into Kagome's lap and held on tightly.

"Hentai!" there was a slapping sound and then a thick thump as Miroku landed splat on the ground in a heap of robes, a jangling staff, and lots of tinkling prayer beads. He blinked up at Sango as if she'd kissed him instead of slapping him.

"Lady Sango! Such strength, such power!" he rubbed his cheek reverently.

"It's funny," she shook her head, hands on her hips indignantly like a mother talking to a naughty son, "I have to keep reminding you…over and over again."

Kilala abandoned Kagome to take a stance at her mistress's side, though she was anything but fierce in her kittenish form. Shippo, however, was not distracted from his cowering in Kagome's lap—except he was not cowering any longer. He dug at Kagome's waist, sniffled and put his cold nose against the warmth of her kimono. Then he began to tug on her clothes, "Kagome!"

The miko didn't notice him at first, Miroku and Sango's comical arguing distracted her, but soon his incessant tugging drew her attention away. "What is it, Shippo?"

The kit wrinkled is nose as he stared up at her. "You smell funny."

"Thanks, Shippo." She chuckled and ruffled his hair, ready to dismiss his comment as something silly and meaningless, but the kit continued tugging on her and calling her name.

"No, no Kagome! You smell _funny._ _Different._" He clambered higher on her again, which drew a hiss of abrupt discomfort from the girl.

"Shippo—stop that, it _hurts._ I told you that once already." She sighed as the kit ignored her and began sniffing at her hair, her neck, and then finally he started to dig at her armpits. That was when she decided she'd had enough.

"Okay, no more." She scooped Shippo up in her arms and pinned him against her stomach, hoping he wouldn't squirm.

_Throw him in the fire._ Inuyasha suggested through the link.

_No, I'm going to bring him in to see you._ His responding annoyance made her smirk triumphantly. Keeping Shippo pinned, she left Miroku and Sango to their sexually charged bickering, and stepped through the flap over Kaede's hut. The smell of the food cooking inside made her cringe and suddenly feel sick. She swallowed uncertainly and stepped through anyway.

Inuyasha was putting his clawed hands to a last use before his transformation in a matter of minutes by skinning and gutting a rabbit he'd caught earlier in the day. Kaede was tending the fire; her face was pinched with what was probably pain. When Kagome entered the room, with Shippo still squirming in her arms, Kaede was the only one that looked up, the hanyou had already acknowledged her through the link, but his dog ears lowered slightly and twitched.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo squealed, "Kagome smells _funny."_

"Yeah, well you _look_ funny." The hanyou snapped back, irritably.

Kagome was distracted by the faint smell of blood in the hut, by the sight of blood and fresh meat on her mate's claws. Inuyasha noted her rising disgust and at last lifted his eyes to her, his eyebrows quirked at her. _Are you okay, Kagome?_

She looked away from the raw meat and swallowed thickly. _I'm fine._ But her heart was fluttering, her stomach flip flopping.

Shippo broke free of her hold and bounded to the raw meat Inuyasha was working with. "Oh! Oh! Inuyasha! Please! I want some! Can I have some? Please?"

The hanyou batted him away, "Not a chance, runt." Through the link Kagome heard him think: _If I can't eat it raw then you sure as hell aren't allowed to._

Dizziness crashed over Kagome. She stumbled and sat down, groaning a little.

"Child?" Kaede called, frowning concernedly, "Are you all right?" (A/N: I hate the ye thing and to make it make sense to me I'm only going to use it when Kaede is referring to more than one person, cuz seriously I just don't get its usage and I like things to have rules because I'm an English major and it matters to me.)

"Uh," Kagome swallowed again, battling nausea, "I'm okay." She tried to smile convincingly but only managed to show them both that she was still feeling sick.

She caught the way Inuyasha stared at her, the golden eyes somewhere between worried and terrified. Grabbing hold of anything that would distract her from the nausea she was battling, Kagome probed the link to try and see what was passing through his mind. He was lamenting that this was the night of the new moon; he was robbed of his powerful senses, thrown into the mortal world, and he hated that weakness. Yet at that moment he regretted it for a different reason—like Shippo he was curious about what her scent might tell him.

Scowling, Kagome threw disapproval at him by way of the link. _No one needs to smell me okay?_

He blinked at her and then returned the scowl, she realized that he had not meant for her to catch his thoughts. He tried to grip the link again from his end, to control it and hide more from her, but Kagome didn't feel his mind turn away—he had little to no control over it. This night all of his secrets would be open to her…

_Don't you dare._ The hanyou shot at her, glaring. The idea of Kagome taking advantage of his new moon weakness was a horrible thing to him, a nasty, bitter betrayal.

Shippo stole some of the raw meat away from Inuyasha and gobbled it down while the hanyou was distracted. Inuyasha made a hissing sound and lunged for the kit. "You little idiot! That's for the meal tonight!"

Shippo leapt away just in time and dashed for the flap of the door and out. Inuyasha flexed his claws, looking after the kit with murderous intent. "If he's not careful I'll skin _him_ for dinner…"

Kaede grunted, catching their attention, "There's still more meat left to be treated, Inuyasha. Attend to that before going after the kitsune."

The hanyou started to answer her and then stopped, his body tensing. His ears folded backward, his face twisted with pain. Kagome watched his fingers and hands, quivering and shaking. Pain surged through the link to her and she choked, looking away, closing her eyes until it faded slightly.

Outside the sun had at last set.

Inuyasha's body transformed. Ears lowered, reshaping inside and out, migrating from the top of his head down to the sides where they were invisible thought his thick hair. His hair flickered at first, caught in between, and then it darkened completely. Eyes switched their pigment, light receptors switched off without the support of his youkai heritage to support them. The places in his brain meant for interpreting scent shut down completely.

It took only moments, a few blinks of an eye, and then the hanyou no longer existed, in his place was an ordinary young man. And the first thing he did was frown disgustedly down at his own hands, no clawless. "Feh." (A/N: ooo I heart human Inuyasha. He's hot, but of course I will only drool from a far, I am taken, so he is all of yours…)

Kagome recovered as his pain faded away from her, she opened her eyes slowly, and then winced, shutting them again. The light of Kaede's fire was too bright; the smoke smell gave her a headache. The rabbit's blood intensified her queasy nausea several times over. When Kaede spoke, asking her if she was all right, the sounds made Kagome gasp and cover her ears.

"Shit," Inuyasha cursed nearby. Kagome heard him moving, so acutely now that she could hear the way his joints cracked and squeaked, all the individual movements of his muscles, even his heartbeat.

"Inuyasha? What's going on?" Kaede asked, also moving slightly, and Kagome could hear her body too, the differences caused by age and injury and mortality.

Something fell over her, like a blanket or a shroud, darkening the world through her closed lids. She smelled Inuyasha all around her. The scent calmed her. She felt his arms around her, pulling her close. Tentatively she opened an eye and found that Inuyasha had draped something over her—his haori.

_What's going on?_ She asked him, using the link, but there was no response. Although she could feel his mind, feel his concern over her, it was as if he had suddenly gone deaf. He could not hear her through their link; he could not tell that she was there at all. His mind was completely blocked from the link, though she could see everything about it with utter clarity now.

"She has my senses now." Inuyasha answered Kaede in a quiet voice, trying to avoid irritating Kagome's new, overwhelmed hearing.

"Feedback," Kagome whispered to herself, understanding. The light from outside Inuyasha's haori was brilliant, blinding. _How does he function?_ She wondered. Everyone had always assumed that Inuyasha's senses were a blessing, but now Kagome saw that part of his foul temper might stem from his own private suffering. Humans lived in a world full of too much noise, light, and sound. Even the smells in the room were overwhelming. She swallowed thickly as the nausea in the pit of her stomach made a wave of heat pass through her.

Inuyasha's hands roved over her back, supporting, comforting—but Kagome could only feel the link, the openness of his mind, the vulnerability. He was still afraid, even terrified of things he had not shared with her, hadn't told her. Undeniably, Kagome wanted to _know. _The temptation was there, and it was powerful.

She took a deep breath, and tried to resist.

* * *

A/N: Some of you may read this and think 'Omg, she's becoming a hanyou.' Now some might like that idea, others might not, me I don't have a problem really with it. I've read excellent stories where she is a hanyou before, but that's not what's happening here. The link is throwing her feedback. The last new moon (many chapters ago) they had not physically bound the relationship or the link. No feedback. But now that they are bound physically too, the link gives Kagome these senses so that she can compensate for her mate's loss. There's also another reason why it would overdo it now and make things haywire…Preview!

"_Can you still use the link?" he asked. His voice sounded surprisingly calm, but she could feel what a lie that question was underneath. He was terrified that she would say yes. To him it made sense that because he couldn't feel it the link was essentially dissolved for the night, gone with his youkai blood, dormant, waiting for the sun to come up again. _

_She wondered if he could see her face with his human eyes as she debated lying to him just to make him feel better…_

"_No," she blinked as she heard herself lying, "I can't." _


	30. Temptation

A/N: wow we're rolling now. Things are going to begin moving fast. I have left out Mrs. H's story from this chapter. I didn't mean to really but this wrote itself swiftly, over the course of a single night. I started a piece for her story and then ran into a bit of gristle and it never recovered for this chapter. That's okay because there's a lot happening (even though it might not appear like it sorta at first…) in the Feudal era. By the time you get to the last part of this chapter, all of you will HATE me.

This STUPID thing ate my last thing, and I don't want to write it again. UGH! Dammit!!!

Ok, this is my first full day in the dorms. It's been a little of everything. I'm hoping your outraged responses will stop me from being bored...

* * *

**Temptation**

They had doused the fire to reduce the light and sat close together to avoid speaking loudly as the night wore on. On the nights of Inuyasha's transformation they always lied low, waiting for trouble, because if there was any night when trouble was likely to find them, it was when Inuyasha was transformed. This night they were aware of being particularly vulnerable because not one, but _two_ of their members were effectively incapacitated.

Kagome sat awake, slightly away from the others, and with a distinctly uncomfortable look on her face. It was unnerving to the others but the girl appeared very much like the hanyou would on most days, sitting aloof, usually unhappy, sulking, tense, or grouchy. Now, though Inuyasha was present and still in his own classic, aloof pose with arms crossed and hands hidden in his sleeves, it was Kagome who took the corner away from everyone else. Wrapped in Inuyasha's haori, she stared into the dark, avoiding the still bright light of the coals in the fire pit. One hand covered her nose, trying to block the different scents of the room, fire and food alike.

"It's not so bad, Kagome." Shippo said, cheerful as only the young can be, "After a while you get used to it—then it's fun!" he didn't notice that as his voice climbed in pitch Kagome winced with every word, "I can everyone's hearts and tummies! And in the dark I can see everyone's faces, and what Miroku gropes Sango when he thinks everyone's asleep…"

The monk lifted his head, eyes wide and startled. He croaked, "What?"

Sango was giving him a very angry glare; her face was turning a slow, dark shade of red. The kit was in her lap, eating beside Kilala. She stroked him, though her gaze never left the very nervous and innocently grinning monk, and asked, "Yes, what did you say, Shippo?"

"I said that—"

Miroku reached into Sango's lap and covered the kit's mouth with one hand. He continued to grin at Sango pleasantly. "Lady Sango, please, allow me to explain myself…"

"You'd better hurry, I don't know how long I can stop myself from hurting you." she growled.

He swallowed nervously, "Honestly, what Shippo says is true, but I am never aware of it." he lifted his cursed hand as evidence. "It has a mind of its own. While I am asleep…" he cried out suddenly, interrupting himself and pulled his hand away from Shippo, "He bit me!"

"Feh," Inuyasha grunted, "Serves you right."

Shippo tried to move out of Sango's lap but the demon slayer held onto him, keeping him still. He bounced a few times and glared at her for the restraint and then called over to the miko in her corner: "Do you want some food, Kagome?"

She winced at the sound of his voice and answered him very quietly. "No, I'm fine."

Sango frowned. "Are you sure?" she didn't see Kagome grimace at the sound again and continued on, "You've hardly eaten anything at all today. I watched you at breakfast, it was the same way, you let Shippo eat everything."

"Thank you again." the greedy little kit grinned. Across the coals in the fire, a human Inuyasha frowned heavily at him.

"No," Kagome spoke faintly, "I'm really not hungry." The faces of each of the other Shard hunters were completely clear to her through the blackness. It looked like dusk to her but really the only light in the room came from the dim coals in the fire pit. The sounds of the conversation dominated her new hearing, but outside she could hear mice squeaking, an owl swooping down to catch one of them, the cry of a cat as something startled it. When the Shard hunters fell silent, chewing, she could hear their teeth on the food, their tongues moving in their mouths, their breathing, the heartbeats, the gurgles of their intestines…

Inuyasha turned slightly to look at her. He was handsome even as a human, she thought. His hair was very dark, darker than Sango's and her own, perhaps Miroku's as well. If he didn't spent most of his time frowning he might've had an opener, gentler face than Miroku as a human. She missed the gold of his eyes as a hanyou though. He called her name in little more than a whisper, understanding better than anyone else that she would hear it.

She waited, wondering if he had anything else to say. The link was silent from him, as was normal. He had no access to it right now, he was as good as blind—but she could see into his thoughts as clearly as she could see Miroku, Sango, Shippo, or Kilala. She squirmed a little, again fighting the desire to peek into his mind and see everything he refused to tell her about.

His gaze was worried, his lips pursed into a thin line. The link sent her his thoughts: _Is she mad at me?_ And then there was a spurt of panic as he wondered what she'd seen inside his head.

"Can you still use the link?" he asked. His voice sounded surprisingly calm, but she could feel what a lie that question was underneath. He was terrified that she would say yes. To him it made sense that because he couldn't feel it the link was essentially dissolved for the night, gone with his youkai blood, dormant, waiting for the sun to come up again.

She wondered if he could see her face with his human eyes as she debated lying to him just to make him feel better…

"No," she blinked as she heard herself lying, "I can't."

Relief surged through the link that she had just claimed she couldn't feel, wrapping around her, almost making her sigh with Inuyasha. He moved away from the circle and began to tie his haori around her at the waist. His fingers moved cautiously, a well-established habit he'd acquired form years of working around dangerous claws. Now his hands were clawless, blunt tipped and smooth. The color of his skin appeared darker to Kagome now that he was in his human form, though it could just have been the new eyes she saw the world with.

"You're shivering." He told her, speaking very quietly, almost in a whisper. Around the fire pit the others were jabbering about something else, a bit of gossip or perhaps Miroku had groped Sango again in the last minute or so. None of them noticed or seemed to care that Inuyasha had abandoned the circle. Perhaps they were even glad of it. Kagome's absence was unusual and mildly troubling.

"I am?" she croaked. It was true she did feel slightly cold, but hadn't given it any thought.

He scowled, still staring down at his fingers as they worked to tie the haori. "And you're hungry too."

"How can you tell?" she reached out and took one of the black locks that had escaped around his shoulder. "You're human right now."

Smirking, he at last met her eye. "Haven't you ever smelled someone's breath when they're hungry before? You don't need to be a hanyou to smell it."

She shook her head steadfastly. "I'm not hungry. In fact all of the food makes me feel sick—it has all day."

This gave him pause. His face wrinkled, perplexed. "The new moon affected you all day?"

"I…" she stopped, wondering about that suddenly. Had she been feeling sick because of the new moon? She'd assumed something hadn't agreed with her, but it made sense. Inuyasha partially lost his senses during the day before the new moon. It was possible; perhaps even likely, that feedback from the link had increased her sensitivity, making her overreact to the different scents she'd encountered throughout the day. Yet though it was a good explanation it didn't explain everything. Kagome had been feeling mildly sick for several days. "No, I don't think so. I'm probably just getting sick."

He finished tying the haori for her and moved to sit next to her in their same, anti-social corner. Kagome felt his concern and bafflement through the link, as well as mild, anticipatory fear. He was beginning to _expect_ something to go wrong. If Kagome only dug a little further into his thoughts she would have the answer to what he was afraid of…

She pulled back, stiffening beside him, trying to close off her end of the link. _No, I can't cheat him like that._

Beside her he was stony, blissfully unaware of just how close to disaster he was.

From around the fire Shippo was talking loudly: "…and Kagome smells funny."

"How is that?" Miroku asked, surprisingly without any amusement, or at least very little.

"She smells _different…" _

Kagome sighed at Inuyasha's side, rolling her eyes. "Not that again."

The hanyou turned human hadn't appeared to have heard her, or cared about what she'd said. Instead he was focused on Shippo with more interest than usual. Unceremoniously, he left Kagome to sit closer to the fire again—as it turned out this was deliberately done to avoid speaking loudly into Kagome's sensitive ears.

"What are you talking about, Shippo?" he snapped, irritably.

"Uh…" the kit swallowed nervously and eyed the distance between himself on Sango's lap and Kagome in the corner. Fleeing was always on his mind when Inuyasha took direct interest in him because the hanyou usually left him with a welt on his head.

With no answers from the kit, Sango went right to the source, aware that already they were probably bugging Kagome by talking about her as if she weren't with them. "Kagome? Are you sick?"

She answered quietly, "I guess so…"

"It's probably just the new moon." Miroku said with a yawn, "By morning everything will be fine."

"Tired?" Sango asked him, looking a little drowsy herself, "I think it's about time that we all got some sleep."

"No." Inuyasha interjected. When everyone—including Kagome from her corner—looked at him blankly, he scowled made a huffing noise. "We should be alert all night. If that bastard Naraku tries something it'd be tonight for sure with our luck."

Kagome smiled slightly to herself, aware that he was thinking most of her, worrying. His own weaknesses were annoyances, and normally he only begrudgingly allowed the group to take things easy on his account—he was ashamed of anything that could be counted as a weakness against him—but this night with Kagome out of whack too and thus in danger, he would risk nothing. Out of worry he might stay up alone on the nights he was human, but when Kagome was at risk as well he demanded a higher standard of protection.

Miroku and Sango greeted this suggestion with silence, though their faces were pensive, considering it. At last Miroku sighed reached to one side to pick up his staff, which he had set aside when the group had started eating. "Well Sango, my love," he started grinning when she glared at him in response, "It looks like it's going to be a long night."

* * *

High in the branches of the tree behind Kaede's hut, Eki was shivering. Not with cold, but with excitement. _There is a change, Master. The human with the Shikon Jewel—her energies have begun to change—only hers. She is—_

_They have not splintered yet, Eki. Yes, the moment has come. It will be only hours now before your time has arrived. _

_How will I know it?_ Eki, agitated, pushed up body up and down with his front limbs, push ups. His tongue slithered out more rapidly, testing the air. His other senses were tuned on the Shard hunters below him, awake but drowsy.

_Tell me of their link._

_The bond is splintered. The human with the Jewel is the only one who can use it. Master, how can this not be my moment? The hanyou is weak—_

His master responded angrily, interrupting him for the second time that night. _Do not second guess my decisions, Eki. The hanyou is weak, physically, but that will not last. It is his mind that matters to us. _

_But the bond between them is splintered. It is the signal you have instructed me to wait for…_ The lizard demon's frantic pushups increased, rocking the thin branch he was on.

_It is not merely the bond that needs to fracture. Eki, it will be sudden. The miko will yield to temptation. You must already be inside, waiting. The bite must come before sunup. Do you understand?_

The lizard's pushups had not stopped yet; his eyes were wide and bugged out. He felt panic but struggled to hide it from his master. _Yes, Master. It will be done as you wish it._

* * *

"_Kagome! Honey! It's been so long!" tears sparkled on her mother's cheeks, racing down them like jewels. Kagome thought of shards absently and then concluded that the tears were more beautiful, and always pure. _

_She felt herself enveloped in her mother's arms, saw Souta appear in the doorway to the house. It was wintertime; the snow was just starting to fall. The sound of cars in the distance, an annoyed driver honking at someone else, the stink of exhaust—it was all overwhelmingly comforting. She felt tears of her own start up. _

"_Kagome! What happened? Where's Inuyasha?" Souta shouted, rushing over to her. _

_Mrs. Higurashi was still crying, though she was smiling through those tears. "Sweetie, it's been so long…"_

_She opened her mouth to speak but it was as if her vocal cords had turned to stone. She tried to cough and found she couldn't. _

_It didn't change her mother or her brother's smiling, expectant faces. She tried, helplessly, to gesture at her throat, to tell them how happy she was to see them, how she wished she could tell them everything—but her voice had stopped working. They continued to smile, dumbly, like manikins, dummies in a test car, Barbie on a shelf in a toy store. _

_A stab of regret his her, fierce and powerful. It wasn't real. It was a dream, nothing more than a dream…_

Kagome work slowly, not moving, not speaking. She didn't open her eyes though she could see no light through her lids. Her new, unbelievable ears picked up the sounds of whispering nearby, Miroku and Sango and Inuyasha. Shippo, her nose told her, was snuggled against her stomach.

"I'm hungry. Is anyone else hungry again?" Miroku was asking, quietly.

Inuyasha grunted. The sound came from surprisingly close to Kagome. She realized, as she reached out and touched their link that he was watching over her, hardly even listening to Miroku.

"I'm a little hungry." There was a pause, through which Kagome clearly heard purring and the faint sound of Sango's fingers over Kilala's coat, and then she went on, "Kagome should be _starving._ I don't think she's eaten all day."

On the contrary, Kagome thought, she was still feeling sick and not the least bit hungry. The faint scent of meat and food from earlier made her stomach cramp up warningly.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Maybe she just doesn't much like the meal." Miroku answered blandly. He sounded tired, Kagome heard, through the sounds of his staff jangling, the roll and popping of his shoulders as he moved them, stretching.

Inuyasha grunted again, still mostly uninterested in their conversation. He was deep within his own thoughts, she realized. He assumed she was asleep, he had relaxed his mind, allowing himself to dwell on anything he wanted—and it was currently on something that made him uneasy…his thoughts slid all too easily across the link and into her mind, almost impossible for her to ignore.

_Myoga never warned me about anything like this. That stupid bloodsucking bastard. Some retainer. It's a wonder my father lived as long as he did with help like that. _He thought of Sesshomaru, of the toad-like minion that followed his older brother. _A toad or a flea. Great, I wonder if Sesshomaru would trade with me. _

He began to dip, cautiously, into a memory of talking to the flea, and Kagome realized he was delving into the secret he had refused to tell her. Her muscles tensed, she began to try and back out of his mind and the whole link, but already she was too late. The first of his memories slipped into her mind, intriguing her.

"_Through your link, Master Inuyasha, you have changed Lady Kagome, physically. From now on she will be, in some aspects, more like a hanyou, such as yourself, than she will be human. I do not mean that Lady Kagome will transform in any way. She will appear human, as she does now, but she will be blessed with gifts from her completed bond with you. I can't predict all the changes that will occur, Master, but for example, Lady Kagome may now be able to wield a few of Tetsusaiga's attacks, with training of course. She might grow stronger, as well. Her senses may begin to compete with yours…Oh, and of course she will now share your lifespan."_

Kagome felt a fluttering of excitement rise within her, like champagne bubbles in a wineglass. The memory had nothing bad in it, yes, Myoga had been right, some of the changes were frightening, but it had happened and she had survived. The news about her lifespan was nothing short of a blessing. Kagome knew that her mortal lifespan had been one thing that had kept Inuyasha at a distance when he learned that he had unknowingly formed the link with her in the first place. It was no longer an issue.

Just barely, she withheld the sigh of relief that wanted to escape her and kept breathing normally. She knew that Inuyasha was watching her, and years of highly keen senses would tell him what to watch for to find a faker. If he realized that she was awake he might not continue to remember this strange conversation he'd had with Myoga. _How long ago did this happen?_ And then she nearly frowned, confused. _Why keep this a secret?_

His memories continued and Kagome dipped into them, fearlessly. The memories were the same, just from a later point in the conversation. Myoga was speaking. _"…if I'd told you about how the mating would affect Lady Kagome, you might have acted rashly. It is necessary for mates to choose each other and be devoted under any and all circumstances. Your father endured the same test and passed, just as you now have. Mates must act as one unit. This helps assure that you and Lady Kagome were indeed right to become mates. It will be a great help to you when raising your offspring."_

Kagome stopped breathing. It was as if she were a test dummy in a car, thrown against a wall at high speed. _Offspring. Babies._ Inuyasha's own realization in the conversation with Myoga smashed into her: _The link is for parenting. _More pieces fell into play for her, like ice cubes added to an already full glass, they came closer and closer to pushing her off the edge. _Mating season. We lost control. The sickness…_ it twisted in her stomach even then, and the memory of Shippo running into her, the pain. _My breasts hurt…_

She moved her hands, feeling the cold wetness on her palms, indeed, all over her body. Shaking, she touched herself and again felt the tenderness. Her face burned, her stomach seemed to rise in her throat though she swallowed, closing her throat against it. Her brain was skittish, her memories jumbled. _When was my last period? When was it?_

A small, strangled whimper escaped her throat.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha's voice whispered above her. At the sound of his voice the world seemed to become very clear. Kagome opened her eyes and let them adjust. The coals in the fire pit, Miroku and Sango sitting around it, hunched over with fatigue.

Inuyasha touched her once, gently. "Kagome?"

He'd known. Myoga had told him. He'd known all along and yet he'd hidden it from her, taken advantage of her…

Kagome slapped his hand away and spat out—for the first time in many, many months—the word to punish him. _"Sit!"_

Completely unprepared for her attack, Inuyasha yelped and went face first into the floor. There was a loud _crack_ as his skull and face connected with it. Kagome felt a brief moment of alarm when she scented blood—and remembered that this night he was human and weaker than usual. For a moment she felt like crying with apologies, and then just as abruptly she felt the rage return. As if to remind her exactly why she was angry, Kagome felt her stomach tighten dangerously. It wouldn't be long before she'd have to give up and vomit at last.

A new, dark silence had fallen around the coals of the fire. Miroku, Sango, and Kilala all watched with wide, stunned expressions. Shippo had woken from his place at Kagome's side and frozen, staring and the flattened, bleeding Inuyasha.

Inuyasha coughed, spitting and struggling against the weight of the rosary. Blood dribbled steadily out of his nose and when he spat it came from his mouth as well. "What the _hell…?"_

Kagome had begun to sob. The stink of both the blood and the tears became too much for her new, delicate nose to handle. Clutching her stomach, she stumbled for the door. As she pushed up the flap and stepped outside, Kagome's foot nearly crushed a small lizard in front of the walkway. She tripped trying to avoid it and fell over.

That was the last straw for her stomach. Kagome was barely able to roll over and prop herself up a ways before she began to vomit onto the dewy grass. Her throat burned the entire time—there was nothing inside her but acids for digestion. She hadn't eaten, as Sango had said, all day, and barely the day before.

A sharp pain on her ankle made her jump, startled. When she looked back she saw the lizard that she had nearly killed herself while trying to avoid. Now it was returning her favor by _biting_ her… fresh, hot rage leapt through her veins. She lunged for it, cursing as only Inuyasha might've, but the lizard was faster than her and it dashed off, back towards the forest. Kagome collapsed after it had gone and curled into a fetal position, still sobbing.

The sound of footsteps came from behind her, from the hut, a whole herd of footsteps actually. First out she recognized Sango by the slayer's careful but delicate tread. Behind her was Shippo, loping around like a cat. Kilala followed him, moving much the same way but lighter on her paws than Shippo. Behind them were Inuyasha and Miroku, in that order. She could tell Inuyasha clearly from his angry, thudding steps—but he was also limping. Miroku's staff gave him away, as well as the swish of his robes. She closed her eyes, focusing on what her senses told her, trying not to _feel_ anything until she had to. Her body shook, traumatized after her emotional drain and the bout of vomiting.

"Kagome?" Sango's gentle voice called. Her feet squished on the dewy grass softly. Shippo and Kilala spilled out just after her, Shippo whimpered nervously to himself.

Inuyasha pushed through them, growlingly. "Get out of my way." They grunted as he passed, but made no move to stop him. He stopped at her side, sniffing back blood from his nose. "Kagome? What the hell's the matter with—" his senses were dulled and slow now because he was human, it had taken this long for him to realize that Kagome was lying beside her own vomit and sobbing silently. Without his nose he had been unable to smell either vomit or tears.

"Kagome…?" his words were slower now, the anger at her attack being replaced swiftly by concern at her condition. "What's wrong?" he knelt at her side, reached out to touch her…

Kagome heard the whisper of his clothing and reacted to it, slashing out with her hands as if she had claws to tear through him. "Get away from me!" she choked, feeling as if she might vomit again.

The scent of his blood smashed into her, making her cringe and new, fresh tears rush to her eyes. She didn't know how to feel, didn't know how to react. Her body betrayed her, her mind couldn't make sense of anything. She closed her eyes tightly, letting the tears leak out at the corners, and laid her head against the dewy grass.

"Dammit!" Inuyasha snarled. His voice was muffled through his abused nose. "What the hell is going on here?"

"She's sick." Shippo's voice quivered with misery. "She smells _funny."_

The kit's words made Kagome begin sobbing all over again as those words too fit at last into the puzzle. Shippo had smelled it on her. She covered her face with her arms. _How could I have been so stupid not to see it? How long has it been?_

"Wake Lady Kaede." Miroku ordered. Wordlessly, Sango, Shippo, and Kilala left as one, going back, deeper into the hut to Kaede's backroom where she slept, snoring away blissful and ignorant of the strange goings on just outside her room.

Miroku's staff jangled somewhere above her. He sighed, tiredly. "Inuyasha—what's going on?"

The hanyou exploded into expletives and finished coherently with: "If I fucking knew I'd tell you!"

"Your link," Miroku murmured patiently. "You can tell us what's going on."

"It doesn't fucking work tonight!" Inuyasha spat.

At their words, Kagome opened her eyes wide, suddenly realizing that she could no longer feel Inuyasha's mind. The link had vanished. For the first time in months she was alone inside her mind. A new, fresh horror gripped her. She began to shake all over again. _I could just feel him before; just before all this…_ her senses were still acute, still sharp, not dulled in the least. But the link was nowhere to be found.

She bit her lip and forced herself up onto her hands and knees. Miroku and Inuyasha stood tensely nearby, watching her. She was unable to look at either of them, and when Sango reappeared and walked forward as if to help her, Kagome let the demon slayer take her arm and lead her inside. Shippo and Kilala scrambled out of the way, avoiding both women's feet as they passed.

"Kagome," Sango whispered in her ear as they walked, "Inuyasha is going to want to be with you when you talk to Kaede. Do you want me to keep him out?"

Relief swamped Kagome, nearly making her stumble. She forced herself to look at Sango through the dark and nodded, though her eyes filled again with tears. The demon slayer's presence of mind, cool, calm, and collected, was priceless in that moment.

"Do you want me to stay?" Sango whispered this question just as they reached the flap before Kaede's room.

They paused and Kagome met her friend's gaze a second time. Sango's jaw was tightened, her eyes were open and alert, despite the fact that it was nearly dawn outside and they had been up all night. Kagome had never imagined, not seriously, that she would ever have children, or even sex for that matter. If she had considered it, she would have said that her mother would be her choice of companions. There had never been any true secrets that Kagome could keep from her mother. New tears threatened her as she realized that now her mother would never know…

Sango was all that she had.

Kagome tightened her grip around her friend's arm and nodded. "Stay with me."

* * *

Ok I am done. I know, you're all mad...write in and tell me about it, keep me company ;-) 


	31. Murder

A/N: Yes I know I am incredibly evil. I will not stop being incredibly evil any time soon. As I wrote the last chapter I kept asking myself, "Is this the right way for her to react?" I hope that you all can agree with my own internal answer when I say, "Yeah, I think it is, for now." Kagome is not from their time, she's from ours. All this is new. She feels she wasn't really given a choice here. There's a stigma on YOUNG women in our day who become pregnant. It's not like it was in the past here in America, and I don't know how it's viewed in Japan but there IS a stigma. I put myself in her situation: a slip up, no BC, mutual sex…yeah I would not be happy. I wouldn't react quite like this b/c I'd know I asked for it (it takes TWO after all) but I would harbor some faint grudge against my boyfriend probably somewhere deep inside b/c he isn't stuck pregnant and I would be. Now, add to that, (which would be my initial reaction) something like what Inuyasha was keeping from her. To feel that my boyfriend had known better, kept that from me, and then still helped me make the mistake, I would be angry.

As for how Inuyasha would react to knowing this (which he doesn't know yet…) is even more complex. There's no stigma really, other than that he's a half breed. Again I thought about my own boyfriend. That's hard too. I have at times had difficulty finding the proper male reaction for a character. Going off my boyfriend as a male psyche model, I know my boyfriend is opposed to abortion, views it as murder, _especially_ when it's a baby created between lovers. Of course he's also opposed to it when the embryo is in a test tube. I myself am pro-choice. (Please don't come and kill me for that opinion! I choose it for the mothers who are going to abort whether anyone likes it or not. She can either do it like a FREE woman in control of her own body and safe in a doctor's office, or she can do it in a bathroom with a coat hanger and kill herself. You tell me which is better, baby lost or both of them?) It seems to me that most men I've known have been anti-abortion. So I know my boyfriend would likely have a reaction of "Hell no!" if he fathered a baby before he was ready, BUT I think he would be unwilling to see it destroyed. It remains apart of him. On that level, the core of ownership, and for Inuyasha's dog side for protection, he would be opposed. So again a mixed reaction, with at first a shock at least, maybe some denial, and then opposition.

I don't know where any of you stand on abortion. I know sometimes ppl are so rabidly for or against that they attack each other, destroy doctor's clinics, all that sort of thing. Murder to prevent murder? Sometimes people are very stupid. It's a personal battle. I mean to offend no one when I write these things. It is my hope that you will not see the bigger debate in our broader society, but will only see the personal struggle, because that's what abortion is, a battle that the pregnant woman has to face. It IS murder (at least past a certain point even I pro-choice that I am have no argument otherwise) but women need all the control we can get over our bodies. There is no adoption option for Kagome here…who would want a three-quarters human child?

A last note. Mrs. Higurashi's story here is also gruesome. I did not write it blindly. I web searched and read up on Japanese WWII war crimes. Be prepared guys, your favorite nation with its beauty and fascinating anime may actually be worse than Germany. That is the argument by some. Wikipedia was my main source, but there were others. Japan committed crimes against other nations for a much longer period than Germany did, yet unlike Germany today their crimes are not hidden for the people. I know nothing of how the average person feels about it though. What I tell in this chapter actually happened all the time. That and even worse things. Just to touch the surface Google the Nanking Massacre. They make the Nazis look tame.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own them**  
**

* * *

**Last Chapter: **The last time you saw Mrs. H she was talking with Shinku about youkai and why they are hiding. Shinku says he will educate her. Youkai fear humans. While Inuyasha was human on the new moon, Kagome had unrestricted access to his mind. She crept in and found that Myouga essentially warned him that the link is a sort of parenting tool and realized in the same instant that she was pregnant. Obviously upset about this and about Inuyasha, she goes haywire. Her senses have flaked and been boosted to something like Inuyasha's for the night of the new moon, but presumably they will return to normal when the sun rises and Inuyasha once again becomes a hanyou. Also, Eki, Naraku's tiny lizard slave, bit Kagome. 

Families: **Byakko** is Shippo's family. His daughter is Asa, mother of the half demons Kari and Kagome Keshikaran. Shinku Byakko is Shippo's younger son. **Taishita** Sesshomaru's mysterious, but powerful family. **Tetsusaigas** the descendants of IY and Kagome.

* * *

**Murder**

"Well," Kaede began with her deep, gravelly voice, "What is so dire that you've woken me up this early?" as she blinked at them and let her eye adjust to the darkness, she saw the faint shine of tears on Kagome's face and sobered at once. "What's going on, child?"

Kagome felt her hands shaking, her palms sweating, but most of all her stomach troubled her, flip flopping. Her face burned, she was sure it was again only a matter of time before she'd have to puke. She swallowed thickly, deciding to start with that. "Lady Kaede? Do you have some kind of bowl that I can," she stopped, choking on the words and swallowed again to keep the contents of her stomach inside her where they belonged, "A bowl I can throw up in?"

Kaede blinked, her wrinkled face lost a few of its wrinkles and sagged loosely with shock. "Yes…" she stammered weakly and moved with a groan, reaching around one side of her bed and pulling out a pot. As it came close to Kagome her stomach lurched, this was no ordinary pot, it was a chamber pot and the stink of old feces and urine, however faint even to her now delicate nose, pushed Kagome over the edge.

She grabbed the pot and for the second time in less than an hour, lost more of the stomach acids her stomach was hoarding away. Sango moved wordlessly and held back her friend's hair gently.

"Lie down child," Kaede ordered as soon as the dry heaves had quit. "Sango, put this blanket over her…"

In the other room voices rose, Miroku and Inuyasha bickering. Sango had already passed the word onto Miroku that Inuyasha was not welcome inside the room, but the hanyou was stubborn and very vocal about it. "You stupid pervert—you can't keep me out of there! Get the hell out of the way! Kagome!"

Because he was still human Miroku had so far been able to keep Inuyasha in line with his staff. Despite his fatigue he had been trained well and a few pokes to Inuyasha usually discouraged him because as a human he _felt_ the blows much more acutely than as a hanyou. He was already sore from Kagome's unexpected use of his rosary.

Each time he screeched her name, Kagome cringed, both because it was loud for her hearing now and because the link had gone missing. She both despised him and longed to see him, to feel his arms around her. Part of her understood already that the hanyou _had_ known, _had_ been warned, but by the time he had been warned it might already have been too late. And at any rate neither of them had had the sense or restraint to withhold during the mating season. Inuyasha had not planned this, it was an accident. He hadn't known she was pregnant, only feared dimly. She had seen that much clearly within his mind before the link had vanished. Inuyasha was not really to blame; individuals could not be blamed in their situation.

But that didn't change Kagome's feelings, especially so soon after realizing it. Her anger—partially directed at herself—had to have an outlet. And for now it was aimed at Inuyasha. She was not ready to be pregnant, to be a mother.

And that brought her here, to Kaede, the herbs expert. To murder.

And outside Inuyasha wanted to see her, to be with her, but he had no idea what was really going on…

Outside the sun was beginning to rise, very, very slowly. In the other room Inuyasha's nose bleed, and his sense of pain, were both dimming as his youkai blood began to resurface. Sensing the return of the sunlight, Inuyasha left the hut, seemingly abandoning Kagome. In reality he slipped outside and immediately leapt into the tree above Kaede's hut. At the back of the hut he waited, listening with his still human ears and waiting for the sun to rise.

When the noise was gone from the outside room, and Miroku had left as well, touring around the hut to check for the spying hanyou, Kaede cleared her throat and at last risked speaking. "Kagome, child, what's wrong?"

Kagome tried to swallow, tried to gather her courage up. She knew Inuyasha was likely not far away, despite his disappearance. Without the link she was blind. The feeling was dizzying, sickening. Her saliva was thick; it clogged her mouth like cotton. "I—I need an herb—or something…" she stuttered, weakly.

Kaede's single eye crinkled slightly around the edges, almost along her laugh lines, but her mouth was still a somber line. "You are with child."

Kagome tried to bury her face in the blankets Sango and Kaede had swathed her in, but nothing could erase her shame, her fear. Her face burned and she couldn't even bring herself to nod her head in answer, but her lack of denial was all the response Kaede needed.

Beside Kagome, with one hand on her friend's back, Sango's face was carefully blank of all emotion. It surprised neither Sango nor Kaede that this had happened. They were more familiar with the idea of links and demons and mating seasons. They also had not grown up in a society that thought of sex as recreation, rather than procreation. It was only a matter of time, in their minds, before something like this would happen.

Kagome's emotional response was mildly puzzling to them. Hadn't she understood the outcome? But the girl from the future always _had_ been peculiar. She brought strange materials and trinkets with her, like the bike, like her plastic water bottles. She could read and write better than any of them, but she'd come not knowing how to prepare food properly, how to fight in combat, or even understanding who was friend and who was foe. Her ideas and education were massively different from their own.

Kaede's face relaxed, becoming gentler, calmer. "Why are you so upset, child? Your request is no burden to me." She grunted and began to rise to her feet, shuffling slowly to the back of the room where there were some shelves lined with pottery jars and other dishes.

Sango stroked her back comfortingly. In a whisper, she asked, "Is this why you are upset with Inuyasha?"

"It's not just…" she choked a little, searching for the words, trying to regain control of her own emotions and the tears. Kaede and Sango had not reacted as she expected them to, with disgust or with horror. There were no harsh words; there wasn't even a question as to whether she was certain about…murder…

Sango moved in closer, brushing the hair out of Kagome's face. "Lady Kaede would have given you things to keep it from happening." The demon slayer's face was tense in the dim light, "We…we all assumed you…knew what you were doing…"

Whimpering, Kagome covered her face with her hands, squeezed her eyes shut. Kaede's feet shuffled back from the other side of the small room. When Kagome peeked through her fingers she saw the old woman sit across from her with a small, brown earthenware pot. Kaede reached into it and pulled out a few dry leaves attached to a clump of roots. She grunted and dusted them off; frowning with what might've been annoyance. Without looking at Kagome, she began speaking quietly, "Forgive me, child. When did you last bleed?"

Kagome felt herself start to shake all over again. "I don't know. We were traveling…"

"Was it when we were in the baths?" Sango asked, smiling timidly. Her lips twitched with nervousness as she tried to maintain the expression.

Dimly Kagome remembered what Sango was speaking of. A month ago, maybe two…? She couldn't remember it. Between then and now she'd been bitten by the snake demon and nearly died. She hadn't thought of her period at all since then because the stress of the snake bite had already made it late… "It was before the snake bit me." She shivered again, caught in her memories. "I don't know…"

Kaede grunted. "It does not truly matter." She turned her attention to Sango and offered her the clump of roots and leaves. "The toxins in these will work. A tea brewed from them will do it. A leaf at a time, a cup at a time until she begins to bleed."

Sango reached for them but then paused and glanced between the quivering Kagome and the stern Kaede. "What about Inuyasha?"

Kaede closed her eye and shook her head. "This is not his business. It is a woman's concern."

Sango's lips pinched together tightly. "He isn't a woman but he isn't a _man_ either, Lady Kaede. He's part dog demon."

There was a long, heavy pause. Kagome held her breath, unsure of what was happening and even less sure how to feel about it. Over and over she touched the empty place in her mind where the link had been, longing for Inuyasha's presence more with each passing moment. The memory of her brutal attack with the rosary, his blood…she fought tears all over again. The empty place in her mind would have been rubbed raw if it were a physical thing.

Kaede at last sighed. Her shoulders sagged heavily. "You are right." She turned her head and faced Kagome now. "Dog demons are naturally very possessive creatures, child. If you do not consult him you risk enraging him."

One wall of the hut was starting to glow with the beginnings of the fiery dawn light as the sun peeked over the horizon…

Kagome shook her head, her breath catching in her throat, "I—I can't…" her breathing began to change, signaling the onset of sobs. Sango shifted, wrapping her arms around her friend and letting the younger girl lean on her. In a way that reminded Kagome almost unbearably of her mother, the demon slayer rubbed her back, up and down, side to side. She choked even more than, nearly hysterical. Though Kaede and Sango were with her physically, it wasn't enough. Kagome longed for the link, for the ease of it. The link would do the work of facing him for her…

But the place in her mind where the link normally rested was completely empty, cold. She peeked through her blurred, teary eyes at the wall of Kaede's hut and saw the dawn light. _It will come back when Inuyasha transforms…_

Already her own senses were dimming again, preparing for when the bond between them would reverse the powers, feeding them back into their proper master, Inuyasha…

* * *

Outside the hut, Inuyasha was perched, frowningly, in the tree directly above where Kagome, Kaede, and Sango were hidden away, closeted inside Kaede's room. With his feeble human ears he only snatched bits and pieces of the words from below. Yet it was enough, making his skin tingle, his heart pound. He had worried it would happen, even thought that her scent had changed, but as his senses had waned with the approach of the new moon, Inuyasha had put his concerns from his mind with the usual fears of the new moon and the resulting vulnerability.

Below him, after he'd left Miroku for the tree, Inuyasha strained his ears for the girls' words. The sunlight was returning, peeking over the trees on the eastern horizon almost reluctantly, as if it too were scared of the commotion going on in the world below. Inuyasha winced, fingernails digging into the soft layer of bark on the tree branch. As the transformation swept over him those nails lengthened and hardened until Inuyasha's clenched hands now cut deep into the tree branch until sap pooled around his fingers.

He sniffed, snorted, and blinked wildly as his body readjusted to the new senses of his youkai heritage. Dog ears twitched atop his head. Now the voices from inside the hut were clear to him, barely muffled at all. He leaned forward, staring down at the thatched roof, frowning silently.

Kaede grunted._ "It does not truly matter. The toxins in these will work. A tea brewed from them will do it. A leaf at a time, a cup at a time until she begins to bleed."_

Inuyasha felt his skin prickling, tiny body hairs sticking up on end. Anger he didn't understand made him tighten his grip on the sappy tree branch again. His ears twittered on his head like frightened mice, but it was not fear that made them tremble. His gut reaction was anger, as if Kagome were in danger, as if this were Kouga insulting him, but it was none of those things. Consciously he was only confused; his gold eyes were narrowed and crinkled at the edges with his frustration and intense concentration.

"_What about Inuyasha?"_ Sango spoke this, gently.

Another wave of hotness, of prickling skin, rushed over Inuyasha's skin, up and down his back.

"_This is not his business. It is a woman's concern."_ Kaede answered dismissively.

Inuyasha stifled his own growl with a look that, if anyone had seen it, would have been comical. The reaction of anger, of offense, was so hard wired in him; it was barely possible for him to control it.

Kaede sighed, _"You are right. Dog demons are naturally very possessive creatures, child. If you do not consult him you risk enraging him."_

Too late. Kaede was right; it was a basic, animal, gut reaction on his part. Kagome was his mate, the offspring was his. Possession. Control. Protection. Kinship. These were unspoken laws of the inuyoukai. Kagome was his possession; he had the foremost duty to protect her from harm of all kinds. He also had control over her because she was his mate. He had instigated the link, albeit unknowingly, and she had accepted, effectively giving herself over to him. Kinship came into play with family and loyalty. Kagome was family now, and Inuyasha, long since an orphan, had only his brother before, a brother that wanted to kill him continually.

Not anymore. Now there was Kagome. And through Kagome something even closer to him than his brother…

It made no sense for him to connect with the offspring. He hadn't planned it, hadn't wanted it. It was genderless, it barely held a scent, it barely existed at all. Worse still was the danger it put everyone in. Naraku was still somewhere lurking, waiting. A pup weakened the group. It would be weaker than Shippo, helpless in the beginning. Kagome would be weakened carrying it. Her miko magic might cease completely as her body turned all its attention on the child.

There were a thousand reasons and more why Kaede's herbs were the right solution, a thousand reasons and more that would support Inuyasha in encouraging Kagome's decision. The Feudal era was full of aborted babies by women, it was a normal occurrence. Infanticide and abortion were norms. Inuyasha had scented women with the stink of the herbs in their systems many, many times. He had even found bones of newborn babies in the woods just on the outskirts of villages. It was done all the time, he had never given it a second thought, never been offended and never been told to think of it as right or wrong. It was a woman's territory, not a man's and certainly not a male hanyou's.

But no amount of reason could change Inuyasha's gut, instinctual first reaction, and that was one of emotion. Inwardly he claimed the pup as his own, as an extension of Kagome and of kin. It must be protected; he had to have some control over it.

Kagome was making crying sounds, choking noises with her throat, trying to speak. She said, _"I—I can't…"_

Another hot wave rushed through Inuyasha. He reached for the place in his mind where the link he shared with her, ready to demand that she talk to _him_ about this…and felt nothing. A new feeling coursed through him then: horror. Could Kagome have that much strength and conviction, that much anger against him that she had blocked off her mind?

All thought of holding himself back vanished. Losing the link was unacceptable. He had no control of the child currently, and now he was robbed of the link and his tie to Kagome as well.

His ears flattened, his face took on a tight expression of dangerous rage. Leaping from the tree he rushed for Kaede's hut.

* * *

"The year, Lady Higurashi," Shinku started, speaking in a very bright, self-important tone, "Is 1933. As Japan sends its armies to invade Korea and China, it begins to take an interest in biological warfare—or should I call it torture?" Shinku's smirk was cold, actually enough to make me shiver.

I stared at my feet, not wanting to hear this. I was never alive for those wartimes, in my youth they were taught to us—but glossed over. It was another time, a different mindset. At least, that was what I liked to think to myself. The suffering my nation and my people brought over others isn't something I wanted to dwell on.

"You know about this?" Shinku glowered at me, half smirking, half sneering I thought. I shuddered and continued staring at my feet. That was the only answer Shinku needed.

"Yes, it seems that humans and youkai aren't so different after all. I can understand hanyou a lot better now. Humans and youkai are so close really, no wonder they interbreed. We're both a bunch of strange animals. I would say humans are more evolved for their society and fondness of cooked meat, but really, at least youkai don't slaughter or rape kin like humans do sometimes." Shinku rose to his feet, the metallic sound of the lighter in his hand made me wince. "You don't like hearing this, do you?"

"What does it have to do with my daughter? What does it have to do with Inuyasha?" I demanded, quietly.

"More than you know." Shinku was openly sneering now, and at first I cringed, thinking it was at me for my ignorance and aversion to my own nation's history, but as Shinku began to walk slowly around his scrappy apartment, I realized his eyes were unfocused. He was not living with me in the present; he was living in the past. I realized he said he was about a hundred years old. _He had lived through World War II._

"I don't understand." My legs felt weak, my stomach twisted up, painfully.

"That's fine—like I said; it's my job to educate you." Shinku snatched a book out of one of the many bookcases. It was tattered, worn. A photo album that looked to be several decades old. "If you want to see your daughter and your son-in-law, go right ahead." He tossed the album at me carelessly.

With a yelp I just couldn't manage to stifle, I caught the thing. Dust floated from it, but I could see the kanji on the front, inked on with a brush in a slender woman's hand. My heart picked up speed; I felt a sickening rush of excitement or—hope? I couldn't tell, only knew it made me swallow nervously and robbed my mouth of moisture. "This isn't Kagome's handwriting…?"

Shinku frowned. "No, it's your granddaughter's." When I kept looking at him, feeling the fluttering in my chest growing exponentially, Shinku chuckled harshly. His voice rang through, sounding much like an old smoker's. I wondered if youkai could die of lung cancer and felt myself blanch. I looked away.

"Are you wondering if Nozomi is still alive?"

Alarmed, I was forced to look back at him, blinkingly. "Nozomi?" I repeated, like a parrot.

Shinku grinned, "Your granddaughter. One of Kagome's daughters."

I lifted my hands from the photo album and clasped them together awkwardly, unsure of what to do with them. "One of Kagome's daughters?" I repeated helplessly.

"Yeah, only one of them." Shinku smirked, but I noticed some sadness in his eyes that hadn't been there before. "Nozomi looked just like her, nothing of Inuyasha in her."

From out of nowhere I felt tears attacking me. I looked down at the album, at my hands wringing the life out of each other, at my pale, white fingers. I was both thrilled by the chance to open the photo album and see its insides, and terrified at once. I didn't want to expose my weakness to Shinku, and surely any sight of my long lost daughter would make me cry and mourn her all over again. I gathered up some courage and, as I traced over the old brushstrokes of ink kanji, I asked, "Is she still alive?"

"I never see her anymore. Most of the Tetsusaigas hide away with the Taishita family. But yes, I believe Nozomi lives on. I was infatuated with her when I was a kit." The smile on his face now was warm and gentle; almost alarming with its sweetness in comparison with the other expressions he'd given me in our strange time together. Though it was alarming it was also touching, and I looked away, trying to hide my own weakness and avoid seeing his at the same time.

"Why do they hide? Does that—that…Sesshomaru make them?" I stumbled embarrassedly over my words, felt my face start burning red.

"Not at all, the Taishitas are hiding with them, mutually." Shinku's voice was slower now, darker. I resisted the urge to stare at his face, to try and read it. "Do you remember what I told you about youkai? Why my father hides, why I hide?"

I closed my eyes, sighed. "Humans."

"Same answer." When I didn't move and said nothing in response, Shinku gave a heavy sigh of his own and picked up speed, touring the room. "You don't believe me."

"I don't understand." I shook my head, frowning, frustrated. Did all of them have to speak in riddles? Yes, humans kept youkai in hiding now, but why did it matter that I know this?

"First and foremost, Lady Higurashi, the Taishita would tell you that he is preserving Inutaisho's line. Did Kagome ever tell you about Inutaisho?" Shinku had paused in his pacing, stopping to stare down at me as if he expected me to look up and answer. I couldn't, I stared at my feet, at my hands, at the photo album I dare not open.

"No, who was he?"

"Inuyasha and Sesshomaru's father. Inutaisho was a powerful inuyoukai ruler. Sesshomaru likes to tell the other families, like mine, that we must preserve our heritages. The youkai lines must stay pure. If they don't, we go extinct." He reached back behind him and snatched up the box of condoms from his desk and threw them at me. I made a noise of surprise and fear and flinched. They bounced off the photo album in my lap and onto the floor beside my feet. I scooted away from them as if they carried diseases.

"Thus, Lady Higurashi, you see my interest in birth control."

I found the hole in this story right away, and that gave me the courage to stare up at him. "What about Kagome Keshikaran and Kari Keshikaran? They are kitsune hanyous."

Shinku grinned widely, "So you are catching on." I turned away again, humiliated, as Shinku talked onwards. "Kari and Kagome are my nieces. Their mother is my older sister, Asa. Asa mated Mikon Keshikaran before World War II. Kari was born after the depression in about 1935. Kagome was born a while later in 1951."

That made Kagome Keshikaran older than me. I sat on Shinku's bed, frozen with shock. Kagome looked as if she were in her very early twenties when she was really in her _fifties._

Shinku was pacing the room again, flicking the lighter open, on, and shut again, over and over. "What you're not getting, Lady Higurashi, is that World War II is really the big change here. Youkai were not so afraid before _that._" He sat in the chair across from the bed again and opened his arms wide, "Ask me why."

I hesitated, uncertain. Did I really want to know what he knew? Was it too late to turn back? My legs felt hot underneath the photo album. Worriedly, I wring my hands together. The naked or scantily clad women on Shinku's computer screen popped up, making me cringe and point my eyes at my feet all over again. "Why?"

Shinku leaned back, as if relaxing. He crossed his legs and began to talk as he had in the beginning. "The year is 1933. Japan is invading Korea and China. Mass murders, rape, slaughter everywhere in the name of the Emperor. On the home front the military begins to notice that some percentage of men don't turn in to support their nation like they should. This minority are strange people—people with odd eye colors, hair colors, other strange physical features. They claim weakness or some other shit—but the military doesn't buy it." he flicked the lighter open and let the flame spring to life, flickering, bright and hot, a white-orange. "I'll give you one guess about who they were."

"Youkai."

Shinku shut the lighter so abruptly that I jumped, cringing. "That's absolutely right. And as the military investigated this group, and forced some of them into service, they started to realize they were different, a different race of humans they thought. Animals, like the Chinese or the Koreans, cowards who would not fight." There was a dark light in Shinku's eyes as he stared at me, and I knew without being told that he had _seen_ these things he described. They had _happened_ to him, he remembered them.

I shivered; the cruddy apartment had been forgotten. The world outside, Tokyo's bright city lights, were now sinister. I felt my skin prickling, tiny hairs standing upright. "What happened?"

Shinku snorted. "Do you need to ask, Lady Higurashi? What does anyone do with useless animals, cowardly animals—chickens? You hunt them down, slaughter them. They found that this "race" occurred in families, it was genetic. A disease maybe, or perhaps it was the Chinese or ancient Mongolian blood. They didn't care. They searched us out, especially the prominent families like the Tetsusaigas, the Taishitas, and the Byakkos." Shinku sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees. He did not look at me as he finished what he'd been saying. "Asa is my older sister, but she isn't Father's firstborn. The firstborn was our older brother, Secchu. Secchu was the right age to fight, I was too young. He was one of the first they took because he refused to fight."

"They…killed him…?" I breathed, very quietly, so quiet I was sure he would never hear me.

Shinku played with the lighter again, at a faster pace now. On, off. On, off. "Not at first." His face was tighter than I had ever seen it, his lips pinched together, his fingers, clawed I could see, flew as he toyed with the lighter. His jaw twitched, the muscles straining. He did not look at me. "They imprisoned him, tortured him. When he gave in and told them he wasn't human they decided to find out for themselves." On, off, on, off. Hiss, snap, hiss snap.

Without warning, Shinku threw the lighter across the room, making me cry out and fall backward, grabbing at the bed and his sheets for support. It clattered loudly against the bookshelves, knocking down a few movie posters. The crash was significant enough that it disturbed his computer's mouse, making the pictures of naked women disappear and revealing an ordinary desktop.

"They dissected Secchu," He spat, staring off into space, "while he was still alive."

* * *


	32. Broken

A/N: wow, the response! So far as I write this no one has flamed me. I am glad of this, very pleased. I'm putting you guys through a lot. I'm sorry…but I am evil, evil to the core. Opposition, I am pleased to say, came with a good arguments. That's what I like to hear. I hope no one read it and was like, "whoa, not touching this, makes me too mad." I hope I didn't lose readers over it. If anyone is a little miffed or offended, I do apologize. This is my story, but the characters are NOT mine. I am mortal; I am bound to make mistakes. You can tell me I'm totally wrong, just as long as you don't do it too violently and threaten me or something. But anyway, I had an excellent response, so far mostly of people, 3 to 1, that understood and sympathized with Kagome. But I wrote it purposefully with them both in the wrong. Kagome needs to include Inuyasha because it was consensual, because she should have known better. Inuyasha has to bear with Kagome and think logically (usually that's a problem women are accused of, but right now IY is the one thinking wildly too).

I myself was more horrified in writing, about the second bit of the chapter, with Mrs. H. Either everyone already knew that and was not surprised, didn't read it, or just wasn't shocked. Me, I was shocked. I knew about Nanking before I did my little research bit (Nanking China where invading Japanese army raped and murdered hundreds of women with permission even encouragement. When I say rape and murder, that's not enough to describe its brutality. Does everyone know what a bayonet is? The long stabbing knife on the end of rifles? Yeah, the Japanese army raped these women with their bayonets too.) But there were still more war atrocities to shock me. Including cannibalism. Yeah, great…

Has anyone figured out Eki's bite? I think it's fairly obvious. Hmm. Has anyone figured out where Shinku's story is going with Mrs. H? I am so dark lately, wow…adultness. I hope I don't frighten anyone too much. It is rated M isn't it? Now we see why, more than I ever actually had planned to be honest…

Disclaimer: Nope, not me...not my own...

* * *

Last Chapter: Mrs. H got a nasty history lesson from Shinku. If you didn't read it you should. Kagome discussed aborting her unplanned baby with Sango and Kaede. Inuyasha overheard once his senses had recovered from the new moon. He was at once enraged with her decision becuase his inuyoukai side sees the pup already as an extension of himself. Also he feels Kagome is his ownly real family so a baby is anothe rmember, a _real_ member of his family for him to bond with, a _real_ ally. Not like Sesshomaru who only wants to kill him.

Families: Taishita are Sesshomaru's family. The Tetsusaigas are IY and Kagome's. The Keshikarans are related to the Tetsusaigas through IY and Kagome's first daughter. The Byakkos are Shippo's family, Shinku, the wife Cher, daughter Asa, granddaughters Kagome and Kari Keshikaran, and an older brother that we are only just learning of now, Secchu.

* * *

**Broken**

I shook my head, feeling weak, feeble. "No—you are Japanese. They only did those things to the other races…" (A/N: as far as I know this is true. Racism was encouraged to allow doctors and soldiers to see others as below human, no sympathy, no remorse, no holding back.)

Shinku interrupted me harshly, "Didn't you hear what I just told you? They didn't see us as being like them. Secchu was blonde when he looked human. He looked like a _filthy_ American or one of those _bastard_ Russians. Japanese don't have fair hair." He spat, eyeing me as if I were the military doctors, or one of the nurses, that cut his older brother open.

He touched his own hair, a light red. "They don't have this color either. I tell people I'm Irish." He snorted and stared off at the window behind me, at Tokyo's twinkling lights, like stars spread out over the sky, multicolored but no longer cheery. Now they seemed cold, distant, and melancholy.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, weakly. What else was there for me to say? My daughter had been lost to me through time, but Shinku had lost his brother to humans in a war of brutality and cruelty. I felt pathetic suddenly, begging and desperate to know what had happened to my Kagome when here Shippo and his family were still haunted by World War II, a war that not all of them had lived through. I tried again, swallowing thickly, to speak something; if nothing else it would fill the silence. "They took the ones that looked—different?"

Shinku's eyes, a light color, greenish blue, like Shippo's I thought, flicked over to meet mine. There was a darkness in them that frightened me, sent me shivering. "Mostly." He murmured, "They searched through families." He eyed me carefully, as if searching for something, and then, slowly, he said, "They found the Tetsusaigas even before they found our family."

A hotness swept over me, centering itself in my chest. I fought to breathe, to keep the emotional fog from overtaking my head. "The T-Tetsusaigas?"

He nodded, eyes narrowing, but he wasn't seeing my face anymore, he was reliving the awful things he was sharing with me now. "They came after the Taishitas first actually. Some of Sesshomaru's sons look purely Japanese." His eyes refocused on me, pinning me. "They're not. His youngest sons are half-Chinese. Their mother was a Chinese inuyoukai."

I moved my hands on the forgotten photo album, feeling the cold sweat coating my palms. "Chinese…"

"Yes," Shinku's face erupted into a dark, sinister smile. "Chinese. The army's favorite inferior race. They refused to fight early on because Japan was invading China. It was a human war, none of them are human. The Taishita clan is completely full-blooded and proud of it, but they didn't want to be apart of the rape and sacking of China."

I tried to imagine the Sesshomaru my daughter described caring much about the fate of another country. "Even Sesshomaru?"

"He respected the Chinese. He admired their intelligence, their scholars. His second mate came from China."

_Second mate._ I closed my eyes and shook my head, bewildered by Shinku's facts. The five hundred years that had passed had changed these single characters my daughter described to me into legacies, full clans. Marriages, mates, sons, daughters…my head was spinning.

But Shinku wasn't stopping yet. "The military wanted his sons because they could speak Chinese fluently. They refused and drew attention to the family." He sighed, shoulders sagging. "It didn't help that your daughter had warned everyone of what was coming."

I sat up as if a bee had stung me, shocked all over again but this time for completely different reasons. "My Kagome warned them?"

Shinku nodded carefully. The darkness was still in his eyes, it frightened me, started me shaking. "She told all of the clans that there would be several wars. She told us we should stay out of them because in the end, Japan would lose, badly. The Taishita clan used to live in Nagasaki. She made them leave. All of us left, actually, into countryside estates if we could. She'd predicted other things over the centuries…"

It was now that I began to realize what he was saying. "Wait—my Kagome was _alive_ in World War II?" my heart was thumping, I felt breathless.

Shinku's grimness only seemed to worsen, in spite of the answer he gave me. "Yes, she was. She and Inuyasha both."

I shook my head, helplessly, "How…?"

"They were linked together, mated. The bond made her share Inuyasha's lifespan."

With renewed interest, I looked down at the photo album. My fingers twitched over its surface. Shinku watched me for a moment and then said, "Open it if you like. Nozomi put it together in the late 20s."

"How many children did they have?" I breathed, still reverently tracing the kanji, "Were they happy?"

Shinku's voice was soft and warm when he answered. "Yes. Happier together than my parents. Happier than Sesshomaru and his mates." Shinku shook his head, smiling, "They were like an aunt and an uncle to me, or grandparents. My father mated and had us so much later than Inuyasha and Lady Kagome."

The respect he afforded my daughter made me smile too. I had always known that my Kagome was something special. I had always known she would live to do great things. Bright, pretty, intelligent, and sweet…she had saved these youkai clans from extinction for centuries. She had lead them to wealth. She had fought for the hanyou she loved, in spite of everyone else's dismay at her endless, unconditional affection.

I gathered the courage, and opened the photo album. Dust rose from out of it, puffing into my face. I grimaced and held my breath, waving it away for a moment. Shinku watched me, silently, staring at the book in my lap.

The first page was a wide shot of many, many people. I searched it, squinting with my eyes. There were many blonde individuals; they stuck out to my eyes. I searched for Kagome but couldn't find anyone I recognized as my little girl. The faces were distant, and despite myself, I was searching for a girl, not an old woman as my Kagome surely was by then. I tried looking for dog ears then, only to find that none of them sported Inuyasha's most prominent feature. I put my finger on the photo; it shook as it moved across the rows of solemn, unsmiling faces. Where was my Kagome? Where was her dog eared hanyou?

Then I found, on the right bottom side of the photograph, a couple that caught my eye. The man was not hugely tall, but he was fair haired. The style had changed to reflect the popular culture of the time—the hair was pinned up or tied back, but I thought it was still long, and in front it was out of control with a slight curl that reminded me of Inuyasha. Beside him was the _real_ reason why I'd noticed them, because there were many couples here with a fair haired man and dark-haired woman. This couple's female component was _smiling._ In these black and white photographs from the 20s the style was to stay solemn, even sour. Smiling was not in style—but this woman smiled, unabashedly.

She was a woman, not a girl, but she was lithe, wearing a light kimono, dressed richly for the photograph. Her hair, unlike most of the other women, was only half pinned up. Some of it flowed long. She defied the culture of the time. She was screaming out across time, praying that someday someone would see this and not think it odd at all…

Shinku made a low sound in his throat, warm, full of approval. "You found them."

"She's smiling." I squinted a little harder at the image and saw that her hair was clear of whiteness or gray, her face was still youthful. She looked only about my age. _After five hundred years. _"She's so young…"

"She shared Inuyasha's lifespan. She aged very slowly, right beside him. Everyone in that picture—every single one of them—is a Tetsusaiga by birth or marriage."

I stared at the picture, stunned. There were a good thirty people in the picture, all of different ages. I had assumed they were different families. These were _my_ descendants. _Mine._ _My grandchildren and great grandchildren. _

And as I looked at the picture, I saw them with new eyes. I saw that even in the fair haired men and women there were features I recognized because I saw them when I looked in the mirror everyday. There was my nose, my chin. In another I saw parts of Kagome's father, a nose, the curve and shape of their lips. In the same faces I saw the curve of Gramps' jaw line. I saw Souta in the boys.

They weren't Tetsusaiga. They were _Higurashi._

The tears came all over again, splattering onto the plastic covering the photos from my fingertips. I wanted to see those faces, hear their voices, to see all of what I had lost. Gramps, my husband, Kagome. They still lived on, Shinku said, but they feared me, feared me because I was human and they were _other._ World War II had stepped between us, separating us like the plastic keeping me from touching the photograph.

"I want to know them." I whispered, "All of them."

Shinku gave me no answer, silence swallowed my words whole.

* * *

The first obstacle standing in his way was Miroku. The monk was sitting dejectedly in the room where the Shard hunters usually slept, outside of Kaede's room. His face, just before Inuyasha burst into the room, was one of a grim determination. Yet, when Inuyasha charged into the room, wearing a thick, heavy scowl, Miroku leapt to his feet and blocked the hanyou's progress.

"I'm sorry Inuyasha you can't—"

Inuyasha growled, deep and threatening, exactly like a dog about to attack. Miroku blinked, momentarily stunned, but he didn't move. _"Get out of my way!"_

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha…" Miroku began to reiterate, acting as Kaede and Sango's puppet man, repeating what the women had ordered: men were not allowed. And that, right now, included the hanyou.

Shippo was silent, shivering behind Miroku. Kilala was eyeing Inuyasha warily, as if she might have to transform to control him.

Fortunately it didn't come to that, Inuyasha was too fast.

Without any further exchange of words, Inuyasha pushed Miroku into the tiny fire cat and the traumatized kit. All three of them yelped with surprise, but by the time they looked up and after Inuyasha the hanyou had passed into Kaede's room.

The darkness inside was still thick, all-consuming. Inuyasha's eyes adjusted swiftly, giving him the three women and their forms. Kaede, old, lumpy and worn, like a piece of the earth itself. Sango, stiff and sitting upright, narrow as a rail and just as tough. Kagome, slumped, lying down, shoulders shaking as she fought her own internal emotions, like a very messy puddle. Inuyasha, meanwhile, the only male presence in the room, was like an unexpected storm, a tornado that descends in the night to claim innocent lives.

"Inuyasha!" Kaede spoke first, her old gravelly voice growling, "What are you doing in here, get out! Kagome isn't ready to see you yet."

The hanyou spotted her old wrinkled hands—and in them the thing that they had said would make Kagome bleed. Without thinking, acting on pure impulse, Inuyasha reached out and snatched the herbs away from Kaede, but it was with such force and blind rage, that the hanyou left Kaede gasping. The stink of blood came through the air, red streams began to appear and then dribble over Kaede's wrinkled hands.

The old woman made a mixed sound in her throat, a cross between choking and hissing with pain. "Inuyasha! Control yourself!"

Sango leapt into action then, stepping forward to try and stop Inuyasha from doing anymore damage. "You're not welcome here, Inuyasha." She leveled a threatening gaze at him and her hands went to her waist where she kept her small sword. (Yes, believe it or not but I've seen Sango's sword, we forget about it because of Hiraikotsu but she has a sword.)

The hanyou did not back up from her, new rage sprouted over his face, his ears flattened dangerously. "Draw it, what the fuck do I care?" he snapped, in the fist that held the herbs, Inuyasha clenched so hard that they shattered like glass. The stink of them filled the room, and just behind Sango, Kagome made faint gagging sounds interspersed with crying.

"This is too soon, Inuyasha." Sango spoke with a calm, deep voice, threatening Inuyasha with the tone but still maintaining calm and trying to reason with him. "Give Kagome some time…"

The hanyou turned his narrowed enraged golden eyes on his mate, though she was not looking at him and was buried beneath the blankets that Sango and Kaede had given her. "Where's the link!" he shouted.

The pathetic form underneath the blankets only shook more at his question. She mumbled something incoherently, but Inuyasha couldn't make it out. "What?" he growled.

Kagome cleared her throat weakly. "I don't know."

There was a moment of silence and then Inuyasha tried to push past Sango, reaching for his mate. "The hell you don't! You shut me out, bitch!"

Sango moved to stand in his way and drew her sword at last, fulfilling her threat. "Inuyasha, give her some space…"

The hanyou paused, taking in the dim gleam of the sword. "Get out of my way." He growled finally.

"No, you have to give her some time, Inuyasha."

The hanyou's face was livid with rage and bright red. With a silent snarl, he threw the herbs at Kagome from his distance. "A little time so she could _bleed?"_

"Inuyasha," Kaede hissed, still holding her hand feebly, trying to suppress the blood flow. "Kagome's decision is a wise one. Ye have no place for a babe. Naraku—"

"Dammit." Inuyasha interrupted her, cursing colorfully, "Don't you think I _know_ that, you stupid old windbag?"

Kaede's face, if it was possible, wrinkled up even more. She rose from her sitting position and moved to opposite corner of the room, searching for bandages for her wounded hand. Inuyasha watched her with narrowed eyes, not the least bit sorry he'd scratched her.

"Lady Kaede is right, Inuyasha. Kagome is stranded away from home." Sango was gentler now; her voice had softened, "She can't raise a child if she isn't ready."

Inuyasha's ears were folded backwards, but they shook where they sat, as if he were cold when actually he was fiery and ready to spill still more blood. The rage, the blind, frustrated hurt, he couldn't understand. It was a deep, primal instinct, a need he couldn't ignore. Like the desire to protect Kagome and the others, like the need he had to be near her, to touch her. Sango's argument was valid, and part of him felt horror and shame at his loss of control, at the scent of Kaede's blood. The sight of the old hag wrapping her hand in the other corner of the small room, wincing with each turn, sent him into a new shamed rage.

"Get out of my way, Sango!" he allowed her to see that one hand was flexed and ready to use deadly force.

For a moment Sango's face rippled with surprise, fear. The only one of them with control over the hanyou was Kagome with the rosary. But the need for the punishment had died down long, long ago. Inuyasha was a tamed guard dog. He could not turn on his masters.

At least, that was what Sango had always believed. Yet now he had not backed down, despite the fact that he had already harmed Kaede. He was threatening Sango, and though, being a demon slayer, she felt she might've stood a chance to hold him back—it seemed pointless, it felt wrong on both sides. Sango understood dog demons were possessive creatures. Now she stood in the way of what he considered, above all other things, to be _his._ And the child…

Her hand on her own sword faltered slightly. Demons thought differently than humans. Their minds worked on different levels. Inuyasha was part human, and that was probably the only thing that held him back from tearing her to pieces.

Behind her and to the left, Sango heard Kagome moan, but the sound was choked off and weak. Both Sango and Inuyasha reacted to it, but while Sango only turned to look, Inuyasha stepped forward, so much that he entered Sango's personal space and made her stumble. This weakness was all that Inuyasha needed. He pushed forward, knocking Sango over with a yelp onto the floor, and then he was in Kagome's personal space, looming over her.

"Inuyasha!" "Inuyasha, stop!" the room erupted with Sango and Kaede trying to use words to stop him when physical stands had already failed. A sword could not make him think twice. Hiraikotsu was likely not going to make him blink either. Words bounced off deaf, flattened ears. The moment he had broken through Sango's barrier, Inuyasha had ceased seeing any of the others. His world was now dominated by Kagome.

She smelled sickly, like stomach acids and hunger. Her hormones were fluctuating wildly. The normal rhythms of her body's monthly cycle were thrown out the window as the new life inside her struggled to establish itself. This powerful burst of new hormones had to make her sick because the offspring was fighting for life. If Kagome's body did not take heed of the hormones then it would be flushed out of her body.

From the last time he had scented her, before he'd slowly lost his senses up to his new moon transformation, Inuyasha recognized a huge change. What had only been a twinge to make him suspicious a little less than a week ago, now was a monstrous change, purely undeniable. He could scent the hormones; he could scent Kagome's illness, her stress, her grief. He felt his stomach lurching with sympathy, an instinctual response to his mate's suffering, and then, just as quickly, he remembered the link—its absence, Kagome's attack, the herbs…

Anger surged through him all over again. He reached out and squeezed Kagome's shoulder, hard enough to get her attention but not enough to harm her. She whimpered and tried to pull away, crying his name pitifully. "Inuyasha…"

"What did you do to the link, Kagome?" he snarled, "Why did you cut me off?"

"I don't know!" she cried in earnest now, shoulders jerking with sobs underneath his grip, "Everything's wrong…"

"Stop it! Stop that, dammit! Stop crying!" he could not comfort her. He was torn with conflicting needs. The need to reestablish the link so they could speak to one another clearly again, the need to cease her crying, the need to take care of her, to discuss the child, to fight it out and then make peace…

He became aware of the eyes in the room aside from his own and Kagome's. Not only Sango and Kaede, but also Miroku, Shippo, and Kilala, who were peeking in at the door. Shippo was whimpering and shivering nervously, seeing his little adoptive family torn apart at the seams. Miroku was grim and uncomfortable, out of place. Kilala was trying to determine whether Inuyasha was now a threat or not. Sango had not moved from her place on the floor, but was watching Inuyasha deal with Kagome, tensely.

Kaede was the one who at last spoke, "You get nowhere fast by screaming at her, Inuyasha."

That was a mistake. The hanyou whirled to stare her down, to spread a little of the wealth of his wrath on her. "Shut up, hag!" he looked around the room, throwing everyone a dangerous glare. "This doesn't concern _any of you. _Get out!"

Kaede scowled, "This is my room, Inuyasha. This is my home. _You_ get out."

"Fine." He turned, kneeling to scoop Kagome up into his arms, but Sango moved to her feet, trying to intercept him.

"Inuyasha—you can't take her with you…"

"Fuck off." He snapped, elbowing Sango out of the way. The blow was landed with more force than the hanyou normally ever would have administered and the demon slayer tumbled across the room in a heap. She clutched her stomach after the landing, Miroku ran to her at once. Shippo began bawling loudly, crying like the very young child he was.

For a moment, while Sango groaned and struggled to regain her breath after being thrown across the room by Inuyasha's superhuman strength, the hanyou hesitated, ashamed at his inability to control himself. That lasted a microsecond, and then the rage reasserted itself. He took Kagome into his arms. It encouraged him that she clung to him, that she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. Out of habit he touched the place where their link should have been, hoping this meant that she had let go of whatever choke hold she'd had on it.

There was nothing. He was alone in his mind, cold, with nothing but rage and frustration as companions.

He turned to leave but Kilala transformed in the doorway, roaring and flashing her massive canines. Shippo leapt out of the way, screaming and crying. "Inuyasha, please! Please stay! Don't take Kagome away! _Please!"_

Inuyasha's face was cold and impassive, the rage he felt within only showed in his golden irises, unchanged and always burning. He ignored Shippo's pleading and faced Kilala. "Get out of the way!"

Kilala growled and then let loose a snarl. Her tails swished with agitation, her dark eyes stayed narrowed. Inuyasha met her threatening stance with one of his own, though it was made clumsy by the burden in his arms, Kagome.

"Have ye all gone mad?" Kaede demanded, exasperated.

Sango spoke out then too, sounding winded and weak. "Let him go, Kilala. Stand down."

The fire cat threw her owner a speculative look, but a moment later she transformed, dematerializing into her small, kitten-like form. She moved aside out of the doorway, bounding to where Sango was still sitting on the floor, her face tight with pain. Inuyasha stared back at her, pausing for a moment and feeling the slightest bit of niggling worry for any discomfort he'd caused her…

But that concern barely broke through his rage.

"Go Inuyasha." Sango swallowed hard; there was sweat on her brow, "Get out of here."

The hanyou hesitated no longer. He turned his back and dashed out of the door and then out of the hut altogether.

* * *

There were still misty areas in the shadow of the forest, but as the sunlight came through the trees at its early morning angle from the east, it burned them away, like a fire destroys the body. Inuyasha found the tiny, leaky hut, the abandoned Shinto shrine. Nestled in the mountains around Kaede's village, it had afforded Inuyasha privacy many times, both before and long after he had met Kagome. In other Shinto shrines, isolated ones like this one, the offerings brought up to the little clay statues inside, _kami,_ had kept him from starving as a pup. He'd often fallen to taking offerings that were meant for deities. The deities were immortal and all-powerful, what did they need food for?

This hut had never been anything proper. It was a nook for hunters to stay when sudden storms descended on them. It was a place honoring man in the wilderness. It was rare that there were offerings placed inside. Yet on this day, when Inuyasha sought it out, hauling Kagome there in his arms like a bride or a child, there was food, and a faint scent of incense to prickle his nose.

When they came close enough that Kagome could smell it as well she began to struggle with him. "Put me down—I'm going to be sick."

He obeyed and watched her from only a few feet away, scowling. There was nothing left in her stomach, she did little more than spit onto the grass. She clutched her stomach and kept her eyes closed when she was finished, hardly moving, as if she were terrified, as if she'd turned to stone or wished she could.

Finally she moved, her shoulders shaking, and Inuyasha smelled fresh tears. He moved at once, taking hold of her, folding her in his arms. "Stop that." He ordered tersely, "Don't cry anymore."

"I can't feel you." she sobbed, hardly coherent. "The link is gone!"

Inuyasha's ears flattened, he frowned at the forest around them, at the sunlight peeking through the trees, at the tickle of the incense in his nose, at the smell of the food inside the hut. It was becoming slowly apparent to him that indeed, Kagome had not blocked the link. It was lost. It was disconnected. Was this because of the pregnancy? Would the link disappear after it had achieved its goal?

But that wasn't its goal—it was for _parenting._ Not for _conception._

He sighed. "I thought you cut me off."

She shook her head hurriedly against him. "I could never…"

Inuyasha stroked her back, her hair, as if she were a child. The rage was beginning to dissipate now that Kagome was in his arms, now that he understood that she had not blocked him in some way—and now that he had control over her and through her the pup.

But when he opened his mouth to speak about that topic he froze up inside, as if the trees had ears, as if they might overhear and laugh at him, scorning him. _A hanyou as a father? The child is already cursed. It should die as fast as possible! It should be left out with us, in the cold. The wolves can take it, certainly. That is a better fate…_

He closed his eyes, restraining the desire to growl out of frustration. The link had afforded him the comfort of clear speech. Thoughts came straight from the mind, they were confident, they were brave. They didn't slur or falter as the mouth did, and they came with emotions to prove their sincerity. Aloud, without the link, how could he explain his feelings to Kagome? He was not a good communicator; he knew that much, had been told that many times. The link skipped all of that, placing them one on one in the most intimate way possible.

And now, mysteriously, it was gone, right when he needed it most.

"Has it been gone since the new moon?" he asked, still stroking her back, her hair, offering physical comfort.

There was a pause, even her crying, and the small shakes of her shoulders, stopped. This tipped him off that her answer was thought out, as if there was something she needed to consider, to hide or double check. When she answered at last it was with a quiet, ashamed whisper. "No, it disappeared just after I hurt you…"

He caught on at once and felt a new rush of anger with her. "You had the link while I was human?"

She nodded, swallowing her tears thickly, "I'm sorry, Inuyasha I—"

"You lied to me." He finished for her, feeling the muscles in his back stiffening at her deceit. Her attack made more sense now. It had been _his_ thoughts that had made her suddenly put the pieces together. He had worried over her while he thought she slept, just before she attacked him, worried that she might be pregnant…

"I'm sorry, Inuyasha, I'm sorry…" she started crying again, holding onto him tightly, shoulders quaking.

With the scent of her tears and her sickness, Inuyasha couldn't maintain the anger. It flew from him, like bats after the sunset to feed, gone. "Stop crying, shh, stop Kagome, please." He pulled her face back from where she'd hidden it away on his chest and forced her to look at him. "I promise we'll find a way to make it work again. Okay?"

She nodded and tried to smile as he delicately swiped at her tears. When he had cleared most of them, the hanyou pulled away from her and walked into the tiny hut, snatching the offerings that had been left there. He picked off the ants that had tried to claim the tangerine and ate them himself. There were some bits of a fish, but they were bad parts and raw, Kagome would never eat them. Rather than let any of it sit out for the ants—because as long as Inuyasha had lived he'd never been caught by the deities the food was actually meant for—he ate the raw pieces too. A few slices of pickle were also there. All of it Inuyasha took back to Kagome, but she turned away holding her mouth.

"You can't take offerings, they're for the shrine." she protested in her weak, creaky voice.

"It's this or the ants get it." Inuyasha grunted. "I never liked fruit. Go ahead, it's not very old."

Kagome shook her head a second time, keeping one hand over her mouth. When she spoke past it her voice was thoroughly muffled. "I'll just puke again—and you should be ashamed of yourself…"

"You're hungry." Inuyasha reiterated, growing irritated. "If you don't eat anything you'll just get worse. If you weren't so stupid you'd know that."

She responded to this with a glare. "I am _not_ stupid."

"Are you sure?" he snorted.

Irritably, Kagome slapped the food he was offering away. "I don't eat things left out as offerings, Inuyasha." Her eyes were clouded with tears, the thought of shrines and offerings was sacred to her, the idea of family was tied closely with it. The Higurashi family maintained the Higurashi shrine. Someday the little abandoned hut might be apart of the bigger Higurashi complex...and Inuyasha was stealing from it.

The hanyou frowned at her. "You have to eat, bitch!"

"I'm not hungry." She avoided meeting his gaze now, looking around at the trees, at the tiny hut. Her face wrinkled when she smelled the incense, but she didn't gag again. Sitting with Inuyasha and talking without the link was horrible. She had no idea how serious he was, what he was thinking, how he was feeling…she felt blind without it, lost. And lying between them was the greater issue, the child within her, barely begun. Its fate lied between them, but neither seemed eager to begin discussing it.

"You haven't eaten anything in days, Kagome." He replied, exasperated, "Dammit, if you don't eat you'll just kill yourself and the…" he stopped, ears folding backward. His face colored, abruptly full of embarrassment.

Kagome peeked at him from the corner of her eye, trying to put the pieces together to understand why he had stopped speaking so swiftly. It didn't take her long. "The…baby?" she tried to maintain her composure but she could feel her facial muscles twitching, trying to fall apart…

"Don't start crying!" Inuyasha huffed, covering his uncertainty and embarrassment with anger.

Kagome spoke as if she hadn't heard him. "What do you want, Inuyasha?"

"I want you to stop bawling!" he snapped, ears falling back. He knew what she was really asking, but found he couldn't answer. There was no answer. Logically the answer was that she should take the herbs, drink the tea, flush away the unplanned scrap of life. They could not take the time out of their search for Shards and for Naraku. And at any rate, Naraku would never ease up on them simply because they were becoming parents.

Kagome covered her face with her hands, trying to hide or stop crying, one or the other, Inuyasha couldn't tell.

He cursed the lack of the link. He longed to be able to show her that he understood her dilemma, that he knew the logical reasons for the herbs, for destroying the pup. And at the same time he wanted to share with her his unexplainable attachment to it, the thought that it was family—kin—already, that he had the need to protect it, nurture it. How could he ever tell her, without the link, that the scent of the change in her hormones, of the new life, of the growing milk hormones for nursing the child later, thrilled him in a way he couldn't explain, could never rationalize? She would never understand it without the link because he could _never_ find the right words…

"I just…" she tried to take a deep breath without collapsing into sobs again. "…don't know what to do…"

Inuyasha sighed sadly and reached for her, wrapping his arms around her. She sobbed tearlessly now; her eyes could no longer produce them. Inuyasha stroked her back, her hair, her neck, anything he could reach, praying that it would comfort her. Inwardly he rubbed the spot where the link should have been, prying it, searching for it. His end still worked, in a manner of speaking. He could feel his mind searching for her, reaching…buy Kagome's mind was dull and closed to him, as if she had never accepted the link at all…

He kept trying as uncountable minutes, maybe even hours, passed. Kagome stayed in his arms, drawing comfort and strength from him, and Inuyasha wrestled with the lack of the link, trying to find the right words, or just a fast, simple answer…

* * *

_You have done well, Eki. The link is broken. _

The lizard lied low on the ground, still nearby Kaede's hut, in the shadow of the first trees surrounding her home. _I thank you, master. I am glad to please you. How next may I serve you?_

_There is, again, not much time. Eki, you must shed a piece of yourself into the miko, as soon as possible. When she eats next you must shed a claw, a few scales, a tooth, the tip of your tail. Something small that she will never notice. _

The lizard cocked his head, opening one eye. _Why master? If I may ask, what is the purpose of this?_

_Their bond has been broken by your bite, but it will reestablish itself in a short time. By doing what I tell you, Eki, you will be making the miko…"unavailable." _

The lizard stirred, alarmed, as humans emerged from Kaede's hut. He flicked out his tongue, tasting their identities. The male monk in robes, the female slayer limping and wounded. _What do you mean, "unavailable," master?_

_You are apart of me, Eki. You are one part of a greater whole. The miko will receive a piece of me through you and then the real fun will begin…_

Eki lifted himself up and dashed further into the forest, hungry. It was time to eat a few more mortal lizards to hide his demonic aura. He would need to be close to the miko again, and with her pregnancy she was likely to be super sensitive.

_I will do my best for you, master…_

* * *

_Oh yes, I am evil. You love it :-)_


	33. Conviction

A/N: I'm going to put the myth of the Shikon Jewel and the Tetsusaiga family here…both for you all and for me! The first half (because it's LONG!) will go to this chapter. The second to the next. I think you all will adore this chapter. I took a hiatus but when I wrote it I know I adored it.

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine

* * *

Last Chapter: Shinku and Mrs. H were still discussing WWII and what it did to the youkai families that this story deals with: Inuyasha's descendants, Sesshomaru's descendants, and Shippo's descendants. But when she looked at a picture of the Tetsusaigas family she sees Higurashi features in their faces and feels a connection. Kagome, in her initial shock, sough out Kaede and asked for herbs that would abort her baby. Inuyasha overheard and stormed in to stop her. He hurt Sango on the way out. He dragged her away into the mountains but they are having a really hard time dealing with the situation because, mysteriously, the link between them has vanished.

* * *

**The Legend of the Shikon Jewel and Family Tetsuseiga**

_Long ago, when demons and gods still roamed the lands and the forests of the earth, there lived a particularly fearsome demon that was called Naraku. Naraku was strong and cunning and arrogant, but he was also cruel. Humans and demons alike feared him, for Naraku's hunger for death was infamous. He slaughtered entire villages and armies of men, women and children alike. Humans had no power against him. The greatest warriors that man could provide were sent to find and kill Naraku, but each one failed and was never seen again._

_Demons also fell victim to Naraku's power. He lured and trapped many of the greatest, fiercest, smartest, and oldest demons of the lands, sucking away their energies to keep himself youthful. Just as the humans did, the demons sent armies and their bravest, most powerful warriors to slay Naraku, but each one failed and was never seen again. _

_For years Naraku plagued the people of Japan, he was more constant than disease, more serious than fire, flood, or drought, and he was far more sinister and cruel. None, it seemed, would ever be able to defeat him—for Naraku had a secret weapon that none could fight: the Shikon Jewel._

_The Shikon Jewel was Naraku's most prized possession. The treasure had the power to strengthen any demon's powers, to grant the most terrifying wishes. But the Shikon Jewel had one weakness: it was made from the battling of souls. Naraku knew that although the Jewel served him well it would just as eagerly serve his enemies, and worse still, if a human with enough spiritual power gained control of the Jewel that mere human could destroy its abilities altogether. Naraku so feared that he would lose the Shikon Jewel that he hid it deep within his body, where he hoped none would ever be able to find it. Yet although many demons did try to destroy Naraku and steal the Jewel none could succeed, for without the help of a spiritually gifted human the Jewel remained horribly tainted and enslaved to Naraku's awful will. There seemed no chance of defeating the terrible Naraku without this gifted human—and that human simply didn't exist._

_When Naraku was at the height of his power, however, a young and ambitious dog demon named Inudoushi rose up, determined to defeat the terrible demon. Despite his strength and determination Inudoushi would have failed as all the others that preceded him had, if not for the fact that he had found a very unusual woman. She was human, but she wielded her soul as a weapon as only the most rare and powerful humans can. She was young, tall, proud, and beautiful as a goddess. In those times she was called Chikara for her powerful spirit…_

**Inudoushi Meets Chikara**

_In the warm months between the long and hard winters of the land, Inudoushi stalked the evil demon Naraku, fighting his many bastardly offspring and distractions. Many times he encountered the evil demon and many times he barely escaped with his life. Though Inudoushi was strong and proud and stubborn, just as the spirit of the dog is expected to be, he realized that he would never be able to conquer Naraku. Yet he continued to try, fruitlessly._

_One summer, when he was resting on the great roots of an ancient tree, sleeping deeply, a young human girl appeared. Calling with her soft voice to the sleeping demon, the girl asked, "Demon, how is it that you seek to kill the evil Naraku alone? You will never win."_

_Inudoushi was startled awake by her voice and when he set his eyes on her he was entranced with her grace and beauty. He knew immediately that she was something more than the average human girl, but her words had insulted him and thus he replied unkindly, "If you do not leave me to sleep I will eat you whole, human girl."_

_And to him she replied, "That would make you no better than the one you seek to destroy."_

_Inudoushi was once again surprised by the mere girl's boldness, but he could no longer deny her wisdom and strange powers. He said to her, "Tell me of another way to kill Naraku and I will, but there are no demons that will support me in this quest. They have all given up such a task as futile."_

_The girl spoke again, "You cannot defeat Naraku without my help. I will join you."_

_Inudoushi could not believe her. He laughed at her and tried to shoo her away with his doggish barks and growls. "You are mad woman! Leave me to my dreams!"_

_But the girl refused to leave and followed him loyally for years, seeking Naraku at his side. Inudoushi never understood how it was that she felt herself powerful enough to defeat such an evil demon as Naraku, but he couldn't deny her strength._

_She bore a soul unlike any other…_

**Chikara's Tears**

_After many long years Inudoushi grew accustomed to Chikara's presence. She was like his shadow, trailing just behind him. He watched over her in the dark nights, killed the beasts that sought her for her luscious beauty, but never touched her himself. Chikara, meanwhile, served him with her powerful soul, destroying the things that were unafraid of Inudoushi's simple strength. She comforted his soul and body, bandaging his battle wounds, acting as a personal healer._

_Through the years they focused only on tracking their enemy: the evil Naraku. They spoke only of finding some sign or rumor of him, some secret weakness that the evil demon had concealed from the rest of the world. Many times they drew near enough to Naraku and injured him, but it was still not quite enough. Inudoushi and Chikara needed to become one creature—a thing of two bodies and two strengths, but one soul and one mind—before defeating Naraku could be possible._

_Of course they didn't know this at the time, though it was their Fate nonetheless, and it began one early summer night._

_Inudoushi left Chikara to hunt in the wilds as he frequently did—but while he was away the rains came, heavy and dark. The skies thundered; lightening rent the air. Chikara's heart cried out to Inudoushi with worry, but she could do nothing but wait and pray he had made it through the ravenous storm._

_Three days later the tempest ended, and just after nightfall Inudoushi returned. He was hungry and wet and angry, so when he saw Chikara he wanted nothing but rest and quiet from her. He found her crying loudly instead._

"_Why do you waste your tears, human wench? Stop that nonsense now!" he ordered._

_Chikara tried to do as he commanded, but the tears flowed on unrestrainedly. When Inudoushi demanded why she cried a second time, the truth burst out of Chikara. She said to him, "I feared for your life because I have fallen in love with you."_

_Inudoushi was stunned, and he found he could not answer her. Chikara's tears went on when the demon remained silent._

_She feared that he would never love her and that she was destined to die without him, alone…_

* * *

**Conviction**

"Nothing is ever easy, is it Lady Sango?" Miroku's voice was cheery, but his face was dour, his eyes were dark. He was resting beside Sango outside of Kaede's hut, taking in the early morning rays, the first warmth of the day.

Sango lied on one side, clutched the other. She was pale and the set of her lips and jaw were tight with discomfort. "Not at all, Houshi-sama." Her voice, like her body and her face, was tense.

Miroku laid back on the grass, sighing heavily. For a time there was silence between them and then the monk broached it tentatively, sounding nervous. "I must say, if I were in Inuyasha's place I would feel the same way."

"You're human." Sango retorted back shortly, "He's half dog demon. Neither of us can understand how he feels."

"Yes, that's true, but I am a man—"

"If you say so, Houshi-sama." Sango's grimace of pain flickered briefly into a smirk. She was lying with her back to Miroku so he could not see her face unless he sat up and actually made a great effort to do so. It was a harsh joke to make at the monk's expense, but Sango's pain was enough to make her more irritable than normal.

Miroku, perhaps understanding this, ignored her insult. "If the woman I love were going to have my child, I would be angry at the thought of destroying it." his words were carefully chosen, carrying some weight. He was thinking deeply about it. Sango dismissed the higher emotions of the topic and focused more on the fact that this was Miroku talking, the shameless pervert that asked every woman to have his child.

"You must find a willing woman before you can worry about that, Houshi-sama." She grumbled.

He made a small noise, half a chuckle, half a snort or a grunt. It was a sound of surprise. "You misunderstood me, lovely Sango."

"If you say so, Houshi-sama." She repeated her earlier phrase of doubt and closed her eyes, frowning at a new aching surge through her rips. Inuyasha's blow had left her ribs burning, aching, and bruised on one side. Inside the hut Kaede was preparing a painkilling tea for Sango, but in the meantime she advised rest and fresh air. And a distraction, if possible, to ease her while the medicine was being prepared. The dawn light, the dew on the grass, and Miroku at her side, were supposed to suffice.

"Yes, you did." Miroku answered, with surprising force. Sango's eyes snapped open, wide and shocked, when she felt the monk's fingers on her neck, her ear, and running gently through her messy hair. "I said _if the woman I love_…" he went on with a little more speed, as if covering his tracks, but his fingers stayed on her, stroking. "You must remember that Inuyasha loves Kagome, that makes the child doubly valuable—and that is how I see it."

"But Inuyasha is a dog demon. He is partially running on instinct…" Sango refused to let herself think much about the monk's words. He was a handsome, charming liar. She threw the other words into the air as if she hadn't seen his insinuations at all, and she made no mention of the fact that his fingers were stroking her tenderly.

"He is half human as well, my Sango." His fingernail tickled the outside of her ear, making her shiver with pleasure and then wince as her ribs ached at the movement.

She was ashamed of how her voice shook when she spoke again. "W-what are you saying, Houshi-sama?"

"I thought I had made myself clear?" his fingertips grazed her neck, ran along her jaw line, then dipped abruptly to caress her collarbone. It felt amazingly pleasurable, Sango found her sense of pain diminishing fast, her eyelids fluttered, trying to slide closed. Her skin was sensitized, alive, jumping at his touch, screaming for more while her heart took off, pounding away.

"If you say so…Houshi-sama." She murmured, almost sleepily.

Silence fell again, but Miroku's touch did not stop. He played gently around her face and her neck, over her shoulder, tiptoed down her back, and combed through her hair.

"If the woman I love was carrying my child and she went to Kaede to stop it, I too would be upset. Perhaps not as violently as Inuyasha—I'm no hanyou of course—but I would not be pleased." He paused, and his hand laid flush on Sango's neck, "I would ask her to give the child a chance." He gripped Sango slightly and she felt his lips lower close to her ear, his breath move over the skin of her cheek. "I would ask her to give _me_ a chance…"

Sango's breath was caught in her throat; her heart was like a giant demon's footsteps inside her ears. Somehow those demons had never scared her as much as this moment when another mere mortal paralyzed her.

"Miroku…" she breathed, trying to find words…

And then Shippo burst out of Kaede's hut, followed closely by Kaede herself. "Can I go look for that jerk? Please? Lady Kaede? _Please!"_

Miroku moved away from Sango quickly, leaving the demon slayer with an abrupt, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She watched as the monk took the small pottery cup from Kaede and bowed, thanking her.

"I warn ye, child." Kaede sighed, holding her bandaged hand and scowling, "The tea will have a foul taste from the herbs, but it will work for the pain. I trust Miroku has been looking out for you?"

Sango felt herself blushing uncontrollably. "Yes, Lady Kaede, thank you." Miroku was already behind her, helping her sit up. She bit her lip, keeping herself from groaning with pain as he pushed her into an upright position. Miroku handed her the tea cup and guided her hands toward her mouth gently.

Kaede nodded approvingly. "You are a tough woman, Lady Sango. Later I may need to examine your wounds and determine if you need bandaging."

Sango swallowed the first sip of the tea and gagged, choking a little. Miroku answered for her, "I will see that she visits you soon, Lady Kaede."

"Sango? Can Kilala and I go looking for Inuyasha and Kagome?" Shippo demanded, bounding forward as if he meant to hop into Sango's lap. Miroku's staff shot out, blocking the overeager kit.

"Yes, you may." As Miroku tried to force her to take another sip, Sango raised one hand, trying to push the cup away. "Really, I'm fine, Houshi-sama."

"Sometimes Sango my love, you are as stubborn as Inuyasha is." Miroku murmured in her ear.

Staring at the cup and blushing at Miroku's words and his closeness, his intimacy with her, Sango frowned. With new determination she reached with one hand, and laid it over Miroku's hand holding the teacup. She helped him guide the foul tea to her lips, closed her eyes, and gulped it down.

Shippo and the transformed Kilala were already heading away swiftly. Kilala leapt into the air and gained altitude, flying over the forest treetops to search for the ever-troublesome Inuyasha and his captive in this instance, the helpless Kagome. Kaede, still on the ground, turned back to her hut, leaving the monk and the demon slayer to themselves, she sensed that while Inuyasha and Kagome were faltering, they were growing, blossoming.

No one noticed the small lizard that scurried into the hut while Kaede's back was turned. It slipped inside and hid in the shadows, waiting and watching as the old woman set about preparing the afternoon meal.

* * *

"I'm afraid, if you want to meet them all you'll have to travel around the world, and visit quite a few graveyards." Shinku's smile was without humor. "Secchu is buried a little south of here actually."

I could see and feel his bitterness, the lingering hate he felt towards the humans of over half a century ago that had killed his brother. I could feel it directed at me, at all of Japan, perhaps at all of humanity. He was full blooded youkai, for him it truly was about _them_ versus _us._ He was completely _other_ to me, just as I was completely _other_ to him. But when I looked at the Tetsusaiga family beneath my fingertips, at their faces and features that I recognized as _family…_how had they dealt with the carnage? To hate humans was to hate a part of themselves.

I stared at Shinku, thinking it through. Perhaps the families had divided, full blooded against half. Perhaps the Tetsusaigas had left the Taishitas and the Byakkos behind to preserve themselves. It explained Shinku's lack of knowledge about them, and the distance I sensed, the inability of the Byakkos to reach the Tetsusaigas with my story. But even as I thought this I knew it didn't make sense. Inuyasha was not one to abandon family or friends. Even those that hurt him deeply he stood by, even when they were supposedly dead and gone.

"How did the Tetsusaigas handle it?" I asked.

Shinku's face rippled with emotion, but it was there and gone again so fast that I couldn't read it. "The same way all of the rest of us did."

He was evading me, trying to throw me off. "What happened to them?"

He shook his head, closed his eyes. "You don't want to know."

"They're my family," I snapped, "Of course I want to know."

"It's late, Mrs. Higurashi." I felt myself bristle at his first slip respect; he was no longer calling me "lady" but now "Mrs."

"Why did you tell me all of this, Shinku?" I demanded, "Why tell me all this and then at the last moment lose your nerve?"

He sighed irritably. "There's only so much that anyone—human or youkai—can take in one sitting. It's late. You should rest. I have a guest room." He smirked, "I'm afraid it's not very clean or likely up to your standards. If you're the woman that raised Kagome then you must be neat like she was."

Shinku started to get up from his seat but I reached out and snatched his wrist. When he looked down at me and met my gaze, I spoke, "Please, promise me that you won't turn around and try to put a spell on me like Shippo did. You told me you would tell me what happened to my daughter…"

He tore his wrist from my grip. "You have a son too, woman, as I recall. You can't spend the rest of your life running around after ghosts and legends. You have to return to your home, the shrine."

I closed my eyes, trying to keep myself from exploding from the inside out. Shinku's footsteps thudded over the hard floor, moving away into a different room. "You said you would tell me…"

"I will." Shinku shouted back at me, annoyed, "But we both need a break. You have the photo album—look at it. Some of the Tetsusaigas live around here. You could pass them on the street and not know it. Take a look at them, that way; if you run into one of them by accident you'll know it."

He disappeared around the corner; I heard furniture, books, and papers being moved around. A window was pulled open, creaking whiningly.

I stared unseeingly at the messy bedroom around me, reliving my many memories of my lost daughter and the hanyou she loved with everything she had. _She was alive in World War II._ I looked down at the picture and confronted the image of my daughter in the 1920s, smiling unabashedly beside her hanyou. She wasn't any older in appearance than myself. Eighty years had passed between the time when the picture was snapped and now when I was staring at it. In human terms that was more than a lifetime, but apparently in hanyou and youkai standards it was nothing at all.

In that case, where was my Kagome now? I gathered, though no one had truly said it exactly, directly to my face, that she was dead. But if that was true she had not died of old age.

Shinku's horrible story repeated itself inside my head. The brother, Secchu, who I had never met, was murdered by Japanese doctors during World War II. The atrocity of such a thing hit me anew, making my hands on the photo album shake and my heart hammer. My stomach clenched up, trying to crawl out my esophagus.

In the 80 years since the picture of my daughter—alive—was taken, World War II stood out prominently. If it had killed the full blooded Secchu…

I had the thought of my daughter, strapped down and restrained on a cold, stainless steel medical table. I saw butchers standing over her in their white lab coats, sneering and leering. I could imagine the spray of blood, like something out of an ugly, gory horror movie.

The images were so horrible, so terrible, that I could suddenly understand Shinku's desire for a break. I wanted to cry, I wanted to vomit, and I wanted to slaughter the butchers that dared call themselves doctors. I slammed the photo album closed and closed my eyes, trying to steady my shaking, to settle my emotions.

_Secchu was "different" Shinku told you, "different" like Shinku is. He did not look Japanese; he was clearly "another race." Kagome was normal, she fit in, she was part of the crowd…_

I let that idea steady me, and slowly, I was able to breathe and dismiss the horror images in my mind.

But there was still the lingering question. If 80 years was nothing for my Kagome after she was joined with Inuyasha, then where was she now?

* * *

"Kagome!" Shippo leapt from Kilala's back even before she'd set foot on the ground. The kit rushed at his adopted mother, ignoring the fact that she was sheltered inside a rather ornery hanyou's arms. He stopped short of jumping on the girl, seeing Inuyasha's angry glare.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, but apparently didn't much care for an answer because he followed the question at once with, "Get out of here!"

Shippo's little triangular fox ears laid backward; he bared his teeth as viciously as he could. "You can't keep her away from us, Inuyasha! Everyone is worried about Kagome—not just you!"

Kagome moved faintly against his grip. "He's right, Inuyasha. We should go back to the others." The mountainside was cold and damp; Kagome would've been cold except that Inuyasha had her wrapped firmly up in his arms. Aside from that, Kagome longed for her sleeping bag, for a few treats she kept in her backpack, for Sango and Kaede's words of guidance…

"_I'm not taking you back there."_ The hanyou growled, fiercely. He felt strongly about the issue. Although Kagome saw the others as friends, even family, Inuyasha couldn't escape his lingering distrust, the thought that right now they were a threat. If he kept Kagome close to him, away from Kaede and the others, he could control whether the pup growing within her lived or died. Away from the others there would be no deception, no herbs, no one standing in his way, keeping him at a distance from his mate.

Kagome squirmed, pushing feebly at Inuyasha's arms. "Let me go, Inuyasha." When he showed no sign of budging, she changed tactics. "There's food with the others. You can make me eat there."

"_No."_ he snarled, and instead of letting her go, Inuyasha tightened his grip over her.

"Let Kagome go, you jerk!" Shippo growled, pulling on the hanyou's robes, tugging on his hair, leaping to nip and bite any exposed skin he could. One snap on Inuyasha's fingers drew blood and the hanyou swatted the kit away violently. Shippo flew through the air, past Kilala and squarely into a tree trunk. He cried out with surprise and pain. Kilala moved to nuzzle him with her nose, worriedly.

"That's enough, Inuyasha!" Kagome shouted, pushing with more force against him. "Stop this! Let me go back!"

"_No!"_ Inuyasha roared back at her, ears flattening. As Kagome continued to struggle, and Inuyasha fought to keep her restrained, the couple collapsed, tumbling through the leaf litter and damp underbrush.

Shippo, recovered from his run in with the tree, hopped to his feet and dashed after them on all fours. Kilala, still transformed into her large cat form, followed as well, ears moving frontward and backward concernedly.

The hanyou, with his far superior strength and weight, easily pinned Kagome beneath him, straddling her and pressing her into the ground. Dead leaves, dirt, cobwebs, ants, and twigs were caught in both Kagome and Inuyasha's clothes, hair, and even smeared over their faces. Helpless and pinned, Kagome banged the back of her head on the ground, crying tearlessly. "What's wrong with you, Inuyasha? Why can't we go back?"

Her tone was high and pleading, Inuyasha could easily scent her pain, her hunger. The earth scents just didn't cover them up. It pained him to actually physically battle her, but his instinct was undeniable, and though part of him—the human part—understood that he was acting irrationally, the more powerful side of his will ordered that he enforce this rule. It was to keep her under his control. If the pack was faulty then he would have to steer clear of them. Sometimes choosing isolation was a survival tactic.

"We're staying here Kagome—" he cut himself off when he saw the way she was bumping the back of her head against the ground. He scowled, "Stop that! Stop hurting yourself dammit!"

"Please, Inuyasha." She moaned, closing her eyes as if to squeeze out tears, but none came. "Take me back. I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired." She whimpered, making little half-sob, half-choking sounds in the back of her throat. "I want Mom." She gasped for air, starting to sob in earnest, "I want Mama."

Inuyasha's face fell, his ears turned backward. "Kagome." His own voice was low, closer to a whimper or a prayer than the reprimand or encouragement he wanted. He let out a long, heavy breath and lowered his face closer to hers, trying to nuzzle her and offer comfort. "It's okay. I'm here—I'll take care of you Kagome, I'll take care of _us._"

He hoped she understood—but without the link he was blind, words were so feeble. He longed to explain himself to her. It was the idea of _us_, of Kagome and his pup within her, that overbearingly dictated how he acted now. Not Naraku, not the Shards, not Kikyo, or Sesshomaru or even their friends. He was mate, father, and protector. He had no words to explain this to her, but he pounded on the place where their link should have been, he reached through space, begging the gods futilely for a reply from her mind. Anything so that she could understand that he wasn't insane, that he wasn't cruel. Anything so that she could understand just how much she and the scrap of life inside her mattered to him.

There was a tugging on his sleeve. Inuyasha blinked and looked up to see a scowling, determined kit baring his little fangs at him. "Let Kagome go, Inuyasha! She wants away from you!"

Another surge of instinct made Inuyasha snarl and smack the kit away again. This time Kilala caught Shippo before he ran into a tree trunk. The kit screamed and kicked, cursing very much like Inuyasha might. The hanyou turned his attention swiftly from the kit and Kilala back to his troubled mate. She was breathing fast, fighting her sobs and her own internal misery.

It was a losing battle, but Inuyasha was unwilling to let it be lost lightly.

Leaning down over her, Inuyasha growled in her ear, "Kagome, promise me you won't go to Kaede."

Kagome struggled to answer him through her grief. "W-what?"

"The pup. Promise me you won't kill the pup." He pulled back enough to watch her face, waiting for her to promise. Kagome's face was wrenched with grief, though the tears had long since ceased. Her mouth moved, but no sound came out, it was as if she had been robbed of speech entirely.

At last she swallowed and stuttered, "I can't."

The hanyou stared at her, amber eyes wide and full of stark pain. Kagome's mouth was still moving, she had more to say, but it was lost for the moment as Shippo launched another attack.

The kit shouted, "Fox fire!" (A/N: haha fire fox! The internet browser!)

Inuyasha felt his face swarm with heat. He stumbled backward, pawing at his face and for the first time leaving Kagome free to move on her own. She pushed herself up, reaching for him. "Inuyasha!"

Shippo caught her wrist and pulled on her with surprising strength. "C'mon Kagome! Hurry!"

The hanyou recovered and returned with a vengeance, snatching the kit up in one fist and tossing him toward Kilala. "Go back to Kaede, Shippo." He growled, "Kagome and I will follow."

The kit looked back at him incredulously, blinking. "Really?" he piped.

"Yeah. Now get moving."

Kilala threw the hanyou a few uncertain glances as well, but she turned and began to lope off, pausing a short distance away so that she and Shippo could look back to see that Inuyasha and Kagome were truly following. Inuyasha, in spite of their doubt, had scooped Kagome into his arms and started after them.

"Inuyasha," Kagome spoke hurriedly as she held onto him, as he gained speed following Kilala. "You don't understand…"

"No, _you_ don't understand." He snarled, not looking down at her. The ride was unusually bumpy because the hanyou was stiff with anger.

Kagome winced every time he hit the ground. She held on tightly with one hand on his shoulder, with the other she tugged roughly on his hair. "_Listen to me!_ You didn't let me finish!"

"Fine. What else do you have to say, bitch? How about another sit I don't deserve."

She frowned deeply and pulled on his hair again, hard enough to jerk his head closer and make him cry out, stumbling. "I will if you don't _stop it…_"

"Whatever. Talk." He grunted, giving her a tone that told her he didn't care.

"You wanted me to promise not to abort the…" she stumbled over what the right term would be when referring to one-quarter inuyoukai offspring, "…baby. You didn't let me finish…" _if we had the link this wouldn't be a problem._ She squeezed her eyes closed, frustrated.

The hut was within sight. Kilala, with Shippo on her back, was already landing in the field outside of the hut. Inuyasha was approaching at breakneck speed. Kagome caught sight of Miroku and Sango outside of the hut as well, lying in the grass together. Miroku was alert, watching their approach warily, as if anticipating attack.

"Then finish." Inuyasha muttered above her, "And—dammit—stop pulling my hair!"

"I can't. I can't abort it." she pressed her face into his chest, into the haori with the musky, masculine scent of her hanyou, "I was angry at first, Inuyasha…" she felt her voice breaking, felt the painful pinch and burn in her eyes, the pressure that should've been tears but wasn't, "But I could never do it, I know it's wrong…"

She felt his pace slowing until it had reached a stop. She kept the words quiet, though she could still hear the others some distance away and knew that Inuyasha had stopped short of hearing range; she didn't want the others to overhear. "I don't know what to do. I can't imagine myself as a mother—not now, not alone without my mother." She choked, hiccupping against him, "I'm scared, Inuyasha. I was so stupid—how did this happen?"

She felt him sink to the ground and pull her close. He made a deep sound in his throat, a sound that made her think of Buyo purring, and also of the throes of passion. It was a sound Inuyasha made only during moments of intimacy and it comforted Kagome at once.

"I'll take care of us." He murmured in her ear, short and simply, but indisputably Inuyasha. He was always short and simple, blunt, but when he said something, he _meant_ it.

Kagome clung to him, letting his conviction comfort her and give her fresh strength.

* * *

The mid-afternoon meal was understandably tense. Kaede stayed in one corner, nursing both her meal and her injured hand. Shippo huddled near Kagome, eyeing the aloof Inuyasha warily. Sango was unusually close to Miroku, using him as a sort of pillow so that she could rest her own injured ribs better. Kilala stayed near her master, dozing.

None of them spoke of the events of that early morning. It rested as a sort of taboo, though the signs of the event were evident in every one of them, from Kagome's sagging shoulders, to Inuyasha's distrustful glares, to Sango's bruised ribs and Kaede's bandaged hand.

Finally the tense silence was broken by Kaede, who heaved a thick sigh. "I'm going to take a nap. Please, will all of ye try to stay quiet for a few hours for me?" (A/N: I _hate_ the ye thing.)

"Of course, Lady Kaede." Miroku answered, smiling gently.

The old woman heaved herself up from her seat and moved into the back room, disappearing into its darkness. The room around the rest of the Shard hunters was colored tan by the light streaking in through the skins and wood that the hut was constructed with. The atmosphere was thick and heavy and warm. The flap over the doorway was pinned open to allow circulation. A cool draft flowed in from it, but, as if afraid of the sour mood inside, it didn't penetrate the room very far.

Sango's head began to dip, her eyelids drifted shut. Her head rested off and on Miroku's shoulder or his chest. The painkilling chemicals inside the teas Kaede had been brewing her had a drowsy quality that was cumulative. The more she drank them for the pain, the more she fell asleep.

"Apparently Lady Kaede is not the only one that needs a nap." Miroku observed, still smiling but now with greater warmth.

Kagome tried to watch the monk and the demon slayer's changing interaction, and tried to let it distract her from the mixture of hunger and nausea rumbling in her stomach. She held the pottery bowl in her hands uncertainly, the chopsticks poised to dip into it. it was rice and fish but although she was hungry, Kagome had only eaten a small portion, certainly not enough to fill her up. Shippo at her side had already had two bowls full, and now he was eyeing hers hungrily.

Inuyasha was watching carefully. "Don't you even think about it, runt. That's Kagome's."

Shippo frowned at the hanyou and clung more closely to Kagome, "She can share it if she wants!"

Inuyasha bristled, feeling the weight of the others' eyes on him. Sango blinked sleepily at him from where her head rested on Miroku's chest. Even Kilala roused herself from her napping and lifted her head, narrowing her cat eyes warningly. He was on a sort of probation with them, like a dog that had peed in the house. In reality he was worse than that; he was the dog that had bitten the hand feeding him. It was never a smart move.

He responded to Shippo's words—and their glares—coldly. "Feh."

Kagome suddenly made a short sound—a sort of squawk of surprise. While she'd been distracted by the charged tension in the room in the brief squabble between Inuyasha and Shippo, she hadn't noticed the appearance of a lizard. It was good sized, about a foot long at least. She saw it now for the first time and jumped, alarmed at how close it was to her.

Inuyasha leapt to attention immediately. From his position outside of the Shard hunters, aloof, he rushed forward, claws at the ready. The lizard scurried away, around the fire hearth and toward Sango and Miroku. Miroku tried to pull the sleepy Sango away from it while simultaneously trying to bash it with his staff. The lizard evaded him—but Kilala romped after it, exactly like a real cat on a hunt.

"Stupid lizard." Shippo muttered.

Sango moaned, holding her side and grimacing in pain. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." Inuyasha replied, curtly. "Go back to sleep." When he sat down this time it was inside the circle, not separate from them, and right at Kagome's side. He pointed to her bowl. "Eat, Kagome."

She scowled. "I don't feel very good, Inuyasha." It was a quiet warning and a small reminder to the others of what had happened earlier in the day.

Kilala yowled and bumped into one of the walls. Miroku twisted his head around, watching her progress.

"You should eat." Inuyasha murmured quietly, with more gentleness than he usually exhibited in the company of the others.

Shippo added his two cents, "He is right about that. You're hungry Kagome, I can smell it."

She sighed and reached for the bowl and her chopsticks stuck into the middle of the mush like pins through butterfly carcasses. Shippo encouraged her further in his childish, playful voice as she tentatively shoved in the first few mouthfuls. Inuyasha pretended not to watch over her, but it was foolish to imagine that his mind was anywhere but focused on her.

After eating a little more than half the bowl, Kagome set it aside. "If I eat anymore I think I'll get sick."

"But that's barely anything!" Shippo whined.

"You shut up." Inuyasha leveled one clawed finger at the kit, "If she says it's enough it's enough." He stared at her, though she didn't meet his eye. He hoped she could see, or sense somehow, that he was trying to meet her halfway. He wouldn't force anymore on her, though he knew by scent that she was far from full.

Kilala reappeared from where she'd been stalking the shadows, searching for the renegade lizard that had disturbed their meal. She mewed innocently and rubbed against one of Miroku's hands and began purring. Miroku stroked her head, tweaked her ears. "Did you catch it, Kilala?"

She answered him with a low mew that descended in pitch, which the group knew to mean, "No."

"You'll get him next time." Miroku scratched underneath her chin.

* * *

A/N: Yesss...it was long-ish and I know, you all hate me...it's not really a cliffhanger...is it? 


	34. Decoy

A/N: The second half of the Tetsusaiga myth is here…I got a fish from my boyfriend this weekend, just one of many gifts he sends with me. Others include massagers shaped and painted like mice, a giant teddy bear that I call my love slave, a little beanie baby husky, and some noise putty that I know my dad will love. The betta fish however, is the best. Beautiful and distracting. My boyfriend was fascinated by it in the short time he and I were jointly responsible for it and constantly thought the fish looked "pissed." I've had numerous fishtanks in my lifetime and to me he looks "excited" or "happy." A big, red, beautiful betta that he took to simply calling "Mr. Fish." So as I write this, Mr. Fish sits in his little bowl above me, blowing bubbles and nosing around the colorful marbles at the bottom. Yes…life is good…

And then there was the tragedy at Virginia Tech. I go to a very small college, but it has struck fear in me as well. When Columbine came and made history and was broadcast far and wide by the news media, it wasn't even a month before there were copycats. I wonder whether there is someone deranged enough on my campus to do the same thing. I pray there isn't, and I also pray the wounded recover, the scarred heal, and the grieving families can come to terms with their loss. Also, I feel anger that their campus wasn't closed. The administration should be punished, there are no excuses. Two people died, the other 30 didn't have to. Virginia Tech's administrators have the blood of 30 people on their hands; I hope they are punished accordingly.

Disclaimer: not mine…nooo not mine.

* * *

Last Chapter: Shinku seemed to get cold feet while talking with Mrs. H. Mrs. H is wondering if WWII killed Kagome. Miroku and Sango had a moment of tenderness that I thoroughly enjoyed. Shippo and Kilala tracked Kagome and IY down and forced them to come back to Kaede's hut. IY made Kagome promise not to terminate her pregnancy. During a meal a little lizard disturbed things…

* * *

**Decoy**

_**Inudoushi and the Shikon Jewel**_

_The battle for the destruction of Naraku drew nearer with each day, yet Inudoushi remained silent as the weeks passed, refusing to think, let alone speak to the human woman who had professed to loving him. Demons are creatures of war and bloodshed; they live long lives filled with it. A human woman was no wife, no mate, for a creature such as Inudoushi. As a mortal, Chikara would die many years before his time on the earth ended, and their offspring would be scorned and outcast. He refused to consider her words, refused to let them touch his own emotions._

_Despite her distress at having professed such emotions and being ignored by her companion, Chikara persisted at his side, though now she burned cold as the blizzards in winter. She hid her heart, struggled to look upon the dog demon she traveled beside with no emotion at all._

_The fall came. Red leaves dripped from the maples, like blood from a wound. Naraku massacred the people, haunted the honor of the demons that wished for his death. He was a monster of incomprehensible strength—when injured, even torn to shreds by his enemies, he could feign death only to resurrect himself into a whole being moments later. This power was supplied and amplified by Naraku's secret weapon: the Shkion Jewel. Even when he was too weak to survive the Jewel was able to boost his strength and return him to normal. It was in this way that Naraku easily survived the many attempts on his life…and there was only one being capable of stopping him: Chikara._

_Inudoushi and Chikara caught up with Naraku, defeated or dismissed the demons that he kept in his service, and began the Final Battle. It was no easy task: a day and a night passed before at last Naraku's secret was exposed. It was only with Chikara's great spiritual strength that the Shikon Jewel was exposed and retrieved. Inudoushi immediately possessed the gem, hoping to deal the final blow to Naraku with the aide of the Jewel's strength._

_But Chikara had been unable to purify the Shikon Jewel before Inudoushi took control of it. Without her purity the Jewel was tainted and full of Naraku's evil malice. That destructive aura aided Inudoushi's strength, but destroyed his soul. The dog demon went on a rampage, searching for the fleeing Naraku. He attacked those that were innocent; he wielded his power like a young child plays with a weapon._

_Frightened and sick at heart, Chikara pursued the dog demon she loved, and with every last ounce of her soul, she cleansed Inudoushi and the Shikon Jewel. She slipped into Death's grip, weary and heartbroken, but fulfilled that she had saved the demon she had loved, and so enabled him to have the strength and the sanity to destroy Naraku on his own…_

_But when sanity returned to Inudoushi, he saw the human woman that he had refused to love, refused to think of as anything more than a weaker, mortal companion, crumpled at his feet. A pain unlike any other he had ever known entered his heart, as he realized that she had sacrificed her entire heart and soul for him._

_A fierce love for the dead mortal woman filled him, and Inudoushi wept at her loss, prayed in desperation that she would return to him from the Land of the Dead…_

**Naraku's Death and Chikara's Fate**

_Inudoushi pursued Naraku with the Shikon Jewel's purified power, swearing to avenge Chikara's death. The dog demon easily found the weakened Naraku and the last battle began. Naraku, evil until the last breath, taunted Inudoushi's guilty heart._

"_The human woman died for you, Dog, to let you kill me. Yet though you destroy me you shall feel no rest, no peace, and no victory. Your very soul is hollowed out by her loss. I die at your hands knowing that my legacy of suffering endures even within the heart of my murderer!" and so it was that even as Inudoushi tore his longtime nemesis apart and finally sent him to the bowels of the Underworld, where the beast belonged, he felt no joy, no accomplishment._

_With Naraku dead Inudoushi returned to where he had left Chikara's body but refused to mourn her. He wanted nothing but to have her walking beside him once more, to have her living and breathing. Desperately he dressed the mortal woman in her best robes and took her from temple to temple, from spiritual spot to holy place. In each sacred place he begged and pleaded with the ancient gods that demons worshipped, praying that she be restored to him as a dog demon so that he could wed her. Each time he was answered with silence, and Chikara never sprung back to life._

_Finally Inudoushi returned to the great and ancient tree whose roots he'd been resting on when Chikara had appeared to him. He planned to bury her beside it, and vowed never to forget her, never to give his heart to another, whether she was demon or human. But when the time came to be parted even from her corpse he found that he could not._

_So it was that Inudoushi spent the night amidst the ancient tree's branches, his heart and soul troubled at the sight of the lifeless human woman at the foot of the old tree's roots. And in the deep darkness of that night a voice spoke within his dreams._

"_You love this human woman called Chikara?" the soft voice whispered to Inudoushi._

_The dog demon spoke to the dream-haunting presence not with his own voice but with the call of his soul: __**I do.**_

_And the whispering voice responded: "You wish her to live again?"_

_**I do.**_

"_When you wake," the voice murmured, "You must use the Shikon Jewel to restore her life…but there will be a price to pay."_

_**I care nothing about a price, as long as I am allowed to be with her.**_

_The voice bid him farewell, for it was satisfied. "Live long Inudoushi, and be happy. Name your children Tetsuseiga."_

_When Inudoushi woke with dawn's first light after the mysterious voice had left him, he ripped the Shikon Jewel from where it hung about his neck. He prayed and pleaded that it would restore Chikara to the land of the living once again, no matter what price was needed in exchange. A spell of dizziness overtook the dog demon and he fell into a deep sleep._

_The next time Inudoushi opened his eyes he found that the sun was setting. At the foot of the ancient tree Chikara was wakening as well, rubbing her eyes as if she had merely been sleeping for a long, long time. Inudoushi took the human woman in his arms in a desperate embrace, and pledged his love for her, swearing never to leave her or to let any harm befall her ever again…_

_Yet when Inudoushi withdrew and looked Chikara in the eye he saw her confusion. The young woman said to him, "Who are you, sir?"_

_Though his heart cried out with pain, Inudoushi answered her calmly, "I am Inudoushi. You are Chikara. I have brought you back from the dead. I have slain Naraku. Now I am here to make you my bride because I love you."_

_And Chikara laughed at him, saying, "But I know Inudoushi—he is a __**demon**__, you are only a man."_

_It was then that Inudoushi realized the Shikon Jewel's price: his demon heritage…_

_**The Family Tetsusaiga**_

_Brought back to life, Chikara had no memories of the time she had missed while away from the Land of the Living. She asked the man who claimed to be the dog demon Inudoushi what she had missed, and if they had succeeded in the quest to destroy the evil demon Naraku._

_And when Inudoushi answered her he was filled with a profound relief. "Yes, Chikara, I killed Naraku—but it would've been an impossible task if you hadn't sacrificed yourself for me so bravely. I am forever in your debt, and you must know that I am in love with you."_

_Chikara was stunned to hear this, and when she looked him in the eye she found that she could see the resemblance that this mere man bore to Inudoushi, and she began to believe him. But his proclamation of love she was uncertain of. "Inudoushi," she asked, "Is this a new thing? As a demon you never spoke with me about my confession, of my love for you. I thought you didn't or couldn't love me. Is it only because you are human now that you love me?"_

_Inudoushi laughed and embraced her. "I was always lying to myself, Chikara. I wanted to believe that I wasn't in love with you even though I did. I've loved you for a long, long time now, though it made no sense to me, I could not stop myself."_

_But still Chikara was confused. "Why would you not wish to love me? Why would you lie to yourself?"_

_And Inudoushi answered her: "For the fear of losing you. If I admitted my love for you even to myself then the thought of losing you in battle would've killed me long ago. It was only after I'd lost you that I realized how wrong, what a complete fool I'd been…"_

_When the mortal woman gazed into his eyes she knew that he spoke the truth and she praised the heavens for allowing her another chance with the man she loved. They married not long after and took the surname Tetsusaiga, as the spirit of the ancient tree had instructed Inudoushi to do._

_From their loins the Tetsusaiga family arose, proudly calling themselves the demon-descended family. Legend says that the family's strange features (Amber/gold eyes, abnormal strength, athletic ability, and fair hair) are Inudoushi's latent dog demon influence. From Chikara's powerful soul come such abilities as prophetic dreams, intuition, and, strangest of all, it is said that every woman born to the Tetsusaiga family has a tiny shard of the legendary Shikon Jewel inside her where her spiritual powers are stored._

_So it is that the strength and prowess of the dog demon and the mortal woman that together destroyed the evil Naraku lives on within their descendants throughout the ages._

* * *

Shinku showed me to his guest room. It was messy, piled high with papers. I saw magazines, newspapers, and reels and reels of Internet webpages printed out. Some were highlighted, some had holes burned into them. I saw a massive poster on the world of the world. Nations sprawled over it, divided in places by oceans. Unlike most of the images of the world I saw on a daily basis, this one had Russia more prominently placed, over others like the Americas or Japan. The city names over Russia were in Russian, I couldn't read them.

The window was open, allowing me to hear a siren blaring down below on the city streets. I could see the rolling hills of Tokyo, the lights leading away over the countryside. The bed he provided was small. I stared at it, uncomfortable, unsure of what I should do or of what was proper.

"Make yourself at home." Shinku ordered, making me jump with how close he was to my ear. I stumbled away, blinking at him. "Did you get a good look at those Tetsusaigas?"

I was still holding the photo album, close, against my chest. "Can I take it with me?"

Shinku scowled. "It's family records…"

"I _am_ family."

Shinku opened his mouth and looked as if he were about to start arguing rather vehemently with me, but then he snapped it shut and I noticed a new look of cunning entering his eyes. "Lady Higurashi. Have you, perchance, heard the Tragedy of Oedipus?"

I felt my face changing shape, scowling. "Ed-ee-pus?" I repeated, slowly, carefully.

"Yes. It's a Greek myth from the city of Thebes. It makes an excellent example of mankind. I collect human myths from around the world." He cocked his head, smirking, "I find them entertaining. I believe that perhaps you could learn from Oedipus's disaster."

His tone was beginning to offend me. I believed he was trying to insult me in some way. "If you're going to waste my—"

"Oh I assure you, it's not a waste. You remember how you believed World War two had nothing to do with your own situation? Humans often make this mistake. You believe in the small scale, the personal effects something will have. You don't see how things are interrelated, how one life touches a thousand others and more. And…" he gestured at me, "You cannot accept fate. Even when it's staring you in the face."

"Stop your riddles." I turned my back on him, staring out the window instead. The curtains had been yellowed by Shinku's smoking. They fluttered with a chilly breeze, but I didn't mind. With Shinku's accusations and horror stories I welcomed the chill, a reminder that I was alone and somewhere outside of this apartment the world was still going on, unchanged.

"You asked for them." Shinku laughed, mirthlessly. "And now whether you like it or not you're going to hear about Oedipus and his stupidity."

"You think all humans are stupid, don't you? You've grown to hate us, haven't you?"

I couldn't see his face but I could hear his voice, light and scoffing. "On the contrary, you can be a fun, fascinating species. But you can also be devils…" he snorted at himself, "And to think—your people called my people demons, devils. You know in some countries the local youkai were eradicated, right alongside the wolves and the mammoths."

"I'm sorry to hear that—" I closed my eyes, frustrated, angry. Shinku interrupted me, as usual.

"You think none of it has relevance. I know. All right then, onto Oedipus." Shinku walked forward, grabbing my shoulder and spinning me round to face him. I stared into his bluish eyes and the fair skin, the red hair, as he talked. "Once there was a king. He went to the oracle to learn his fate. The oracle told him he would have a son and that son would kill him and marry his mother. The king looked at his young wife and decided to avoid sleeping with her. He got drunk one night and had sex with her anyway. She conceived and gave birth to a son, as the oracle had predicted. The king refused again to accept his fate. He took his own son out into the forest and abandoned him there. Tell me the king's faults, Lady Higurashi."

"He tried to kill his own son." I frowned, trying to push Shinku's hands away from my shoulders. "Let go…"

Shinku ignored me. "No, his fault was that he fought his fate. The oracle _knew_ that he would." After a short breath he launched again into the tale. "A shepherd found the baby and turned it over to another wealthy couple who raised the boy, Oedipus, in a different city. When Oedipus came of age he went to oracle to learn his future. The oracle told him that he would kill his father and marry his mother. Oedipus fought the oracle—he didn't know he'd been adopted. He left his adoptive parents behind and on the road ran into the king. Through a misunderstanding they fight and Oedipus killed the king, his real father. When he entered the city he—"

"He married his mother." I shook my head, "Why are you telling me this? Are you saying I'm trying to fight fate? _What fate?"_

Shinku sighed and pursed his lips. "Your daughter was allowed to travel through time, that's never been done before. She had a fate, a destiny—and it wasn't in this _time._ You need to accept that." When I turned my face away, Shinku reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look back at him directly. "When I talk to you, when you look at her in that photo album, I can see you still mourning her. I can tell—you still think maybe, somehow, you'll get her back. You have to accept, Lady Higurashi, your daughter had a destiny. And just like Oedipus, no matter what she—or _you—_do to try and fight it, you're never going to escape it."

"This isn't ancient Greece." I clutched the photo album tightly to my chest, folding into myself, trying to escape. "If Kagome had a fate, then what was it? There's no oracle for me to ask."

"You're holding part of it." Shinku murmured in a deep, fatigued voice. "I'm going to bed. Sleep well, Mrs. Higurashi."

I heard the door slam behind me and I jumped at it, startled. The chilly air from the window was beginning to bother me. I could feel the skin on my forearms prickling with gooseflesh. The photo album was still crushed against my chest. I stroked it, as if it were a cat, or perhaps one of my babies so many years ago, while I thought about Shinku's words.

The Tetsusaigas were Kagome's fate…?

* * *

Kagome was deep in dreaming. After the night meal, which she'd struggled to stomach, sleep had taken her easily, thick and powerful. Her limbs were like concrete, and her dreams were vivid and surreal, the kind that leave only haunting ghosts within the conscious mind when the morning comes.

She saw Inuyasha dressed in Miroku's robes and with his same violet eyes, but having the hanyou's fair hair and notorious dog ears. She saw Sango treating Shippo cruelly, pulling on the kit's tail, tossing him across the room as if she were Inuyasha.

The stairs of the Higurashi shrine appeared before her. She saw the stone of the steps, cracked and scoured by time and the elements. Her mother was there, at the top of the shrine, waiting for her. She was disappointed; Kagome had disgraced her and the family. Though she had not spoken to her mother yet, she knew this as if they were connected in spirit, as if it were like the emotional link she shared with Inuyasha. A conversation without spoken words, without real words at all.

She saw her mother in the shadows of the gate, colored bright, dazzling red. It contrasted sharply with the black shadow beneath it that hid away Kagome's mother. The stairs stretched up and up, the gate and her mother never seemed to come any closer. Then—abruptly—she reached it and found herself staring not at her mother, but at old Kaede instead. The old woman frowned; pinching her thin lips together in a wrinkled mess that reminded Kagome of mud after the puddle had evaporated, leaving the murky bottom exposed to harsh sunlight.

"You disappoint me, child." she said.

"I'm sorry…" Kagome felt tears well up in her eyes, burning and stinging. Her throat was developing a lump, large and painful and impossible to swallow. "I didn't mean to Lady Kaede…"

And then it was her mother in front of her and Kagome fought fresh pain as well as confusion at the instant transformation. Her mother's eyes were wet with tears, grief ringed her eyes, making them look forlorn and haunted. When she spoke it was thickly, through staggered, sobbing breaths. She held out her arms wide, as if calling Kagome into a bear hug. "My baby—why did you leave me?"

"Mama…" Kagome rushed forward, arms outstretched. She met with a solid presence, warm and comforting. Arms wrapped around her, fingers stroking her.

"Kagome…" _Kagome._

The voice was her mother's and someone else, someone who hadn't spoken aloud.

The arms around her became Inuyasha's. The bright, powerful red of the gate above them seemed to leap into the hanyou's haori sleeves. _Kagome…_

She fought the heavy dream world, trying to come awake. The voice was Inuyasha's, she wanted to answer it but moving was so hard, her limbs were so heavy. Her eyelids drooped and suddenly she was aware that she couldn't open her eyes. The landscape of the dream world vanished, gradually working her into a place of warmth and darkness. There were arms around her—Inuyasha's, but he was asleep.

The hanyou had settled in for the night a short distance from her when the group had decided at last to rest for the night. Sometime during the night he'd slipped into the sleeping bag beside her and wrapped his arms around her, comfortingly.

Kagome struggled to move her arms, to drag herself from her thick, sleepy fog. Her fingers twitched, coming alive. She blinked and squinted her eyes, trying to see the waking world around her—and found herself staring at a beady-eyed lizard. Shock made her freeze at first, and then surprise made her gasps and move backward, bumping roughly into Inuyasha.

The lizard dashed forward abruptly, straight for her, like an arrow from an archer's bow. It leapt at her face.

Kagome screamed and batted at her face frantically.

The entire room around her erupted into noise. Sango and Miroku awoke at once, although blearily. They reached for their weapons, though Hiraikotsu was far too big to be used inside and Sango's sleepy muscles were still unprepared to lift the heavy boomerang. Shippo and Kilala squeaked and cried out, instantly at attention.

Inuyasha's hands fell on Kagome's shoulders, restraining her. "What the hell…!"

Kagome continued to flail and struggle, but through the dark only Inuyasha, Kilala, and Shippo could see what was attacking her—clamped onto her face with tiny, suction cupped feet and claws.

Shippo gasped, "The lizard!"

Kilala rushed forward, acting as any cat, youkai or not. She hovered just outside of Kagome's flailing limbs, waiting for the lizard to make one fatal move.

Inuyasha growled and tried to keep Kagome still. "Hold on! Stop moving!"

"What's going on?" Sango demanded, the grogginess in her voice was fast vanishing to be replaced with alarm.

Miroku had moved toward the fire hearth. Using the end of his staff he stirred up the embers, trying to bring them back to life. Firelight flickered through the small room, dimly allowing Sango and Miroku to see the shadow of the lizard plastered against Kagome's face.

Kagome was making sounds of fear, half-opening her mouth, which was a bad move. When she exposed her mouth the lizard risked life and limb, trying to burrow a tail or a foot into her mouth. It had clamped its tiny claws into her nostrils, digging deep. The scent of blood reached the hanyou and the two small youkai in the room, increasing their desperation.

"She's bleeding! What is that thing? Inuyasha!" Shippo was bouncing around nervously, leaping cautiously onto Inuyasha or Kagome to get close, as if meaning to help, but then losing courage because Kagome was struggling in panic.

At last Inuyasha grabbed the lizard's body firmly between the fingers of one hand and pulled it free. Kagome gave a last, choked cry, and then curled into a fetal position, shuddering and holding her hands to her bleeding face.

The lizard bit Inuyasha's fingers—hard enough that the hanyou hissed with pain and, as a reflex, tossed the lizard away, towards the fire. Kilala rushed after it, leaping in midair to snatch the lizard up with her mouth. Its vertebrae snapped audibly in her small jaws, it squawked and struggled, whipping its tail to try and poke out Kilala's eyes. The fire cat kept her lids closed, preventing any damage. She shook the lizard furiously, snapping his spinal cord. The lizard fell limp in her mouth and she held it there tightly, gazing around the room with her sharp, cat eyes, waiting for the others to tell her what to do with its body.

Sango and Miroku had moved in to surround Kagome now as well, trying to comfort her. "What happened? What was it?" Sango asked.

"That damned lizard from earlier." Inuyasha snarled.

"It couldn't have been simply a lizard." Miroku had turned his attention to Kilala, seeing the shadowy, long-tailed reptile hanging from Kilala's jaws. "Lizards do not attack people like that. Its actions seemed…calculated. This is the second time it's come so close to Kagome."

Kagome had recovered somewhat, sitting upright and holding her hands to her nose, trying to control the blood flow. "It was a demon." She was beginning to shake, "I felt its aura."

Shippo raced away to where Kaede was sleeping and stole a small white cloth that was used for drying one's hands. He rushed it to Kagome and offered it to her. "Here—Kagome, take this for your nose." He was being brave, but his small voice held a clear whimper in it.

Inuyasha snatched the cloth away from Shippo, and for once the kit didn't fight him on it. The hanyou forced his way in, trying to mop up the blood, the tears.

"Kilala caught it." Miroku murmured, cautiously. "It won't be troubling you again, Kagome."

Kilala took his words as a sign that she was free to dispose of the corpse. Sitting back on her haunches, she began chewing it, gnawing away, until the corpse had folded in on itself and she could swallow the thing down, mostly whole. Her tails twitched and she made a very human face of disgust for a moment, but then she appeared sedate once more, watching the humans, Shippo, and Inuyasha recover from the strange attack.

Miroku stirred the fire up brightly so that Kagome's wounds could bee revealed clearly. The lizard had left her with numerous tiny scratches that looked worse than they were. The most damage was in her nose and mouth. The claws had dug into her nose particularly, causing a lot of bleeding and pain. In her mouth the thing had scratched at her gums, but that was overall less painful than her nose. The Shard hunters stayed awake while Kagome kept the cloth pressed against her nose, waiting for the blood to stop flowing.

"Why would it attack like that?" Sango asked, shaking her head, baffled.

"Perhaps it was after the Shards." Miroku offered, though as his violet eyes roved over the others he saw a lot of doubt in their features.

"If that were true," Inuyasha grumbled, "It could've made off with them without us knowing—if it hadn't attacked her."

Kagome started speaking, but her words were muffled with injury and by the cloth. The others strained to understand her. "Maybe I woke up and saw it before it could."

"That's possible." Miroku dipped his chin to his chest, appearing pensive and contemplative.

Sango was shaking her head. "If it was after the Shards it should've gone for them—not for your face, Kagome. Even if you did wake up before it could make its move, attacking you like that doesn't make sense. It was exposed, it was small."

Kagome was slumped forward, her hands dropped away from her face and then, spastically, lifted again and pressed the cloth to her face. Her eyes drifted shut and then flickered back open. Inuyasha watched her with critical, hawk-like golden eyes. "Kagome…?"

The young miko stiffened abruptly and blinked, as if she'd only just woken up. She stared at the bloodied cloth in her hands and sniffled pathetically. "I'm so tired…"

"Go to sleep." Inuyasha ordered, simply. He reached out to her and shifted, bringing her body closer to his own, allowing her to nod off against him. Without words it promised comfort, security, and protection. It took only seconds for Kagome to halfway collapse onto his shoulder, fast asleep.

"I'm worried about her." Sango muttered, quietly. In her lap now and washing her face daintily, Kilala mewed in agreement.

Inuyasha bristled at her words—not for the sentiment, but for what he believed she was suggesting beneath it. Sango was trying to get into the "taboo" subject of Kagome's pregnancy. Since Inuyasha had returned with Kagome in his arms earlier in the day, no one had dared speak of it. It was a fact, and eventually they would have to confront it, but currently Inuyasha was possessive and short-tempered. _No one_ could discuss the pup growing within his mate, not even _him._

"She's fine." He rumbled, warningly.

"Perhaps we should all follow Kagome's example and get some sleep." Miroku interjected, struggling to diffuse the hostility he sensed growing between Inuyasha and Sango.

"You said it, Miroku!" Shippo piped, yawningly. He moved to settle somewhere onto Kagome's lap, but Inuyasha flicked him away, snarling. The kit leapt away and then glared bitterly. "Inuyasha!"

"Get lost, runt."

And so it was that the attack was gradually buried by dreams. One by one the Shard hunters let sleep take them. Kilala was first, though her sleep was light, always ready to spring wide awake. Shippo was next, at Kagome's side in spite of Inuyasha's grumbling. Miroku and Sango squabbled a little before bedding down. The pervert kept moving closer to Sango, into a zone that she felt was too close for comfort. At last they too settled in, Sango first, and then Miroku after he'd scooted closer to her again, within groping distance.

Inuyasha lingered for some time, listening, watching. He strained his mind, searching for the link that he and Kagome shared. When he concentrated, he thought she was there, deadened and muted, but still present. But as time wore on even this dim sense of her failed. While Kagome had slept earlier, Inuyasha had tried the same tactic with very positive results. For a moment he'd touched her mind, felt her dreams. The thickness of tragedy in her mind still haunted him. He wanted to walk through her dreams with her, to make sure she was never alone long enough to remember being stranded…

It was like covering up a stain. Even if it was no longer visible, Inuyasha would always know it was there. Kagome missed her family, her era. She feared the future here, in what she continually thought of as the past.

The shadows moved over the walls as the white, opaque light of the moon passed overhead. Its light passed through the thatched roof, thick and rich even when it was muffled by the roof.

Eventually, at long last, Inuyasha too succumbed.

* * *

High noon came the next day and Kagome had yet to wake. Breakfast was eaten in near-silence as the others tried to avoid waking the young miko. Inuyasha hovered nearby, refusing food and company. He booted the worried Shippo away from his sleeping mate incessantly until at last Miroku took it upon himself to keep Shippo away before he got to the grumpy hanyou.

Eventually the warmth and the sunshine of the new day drew Shippo, Kilala, Miroku, and Sango outside of Kaede's hut. The old woman herself left them early in the morning to make her rounds in the village, visiting the people and operating as the resident healer and priestess. Inuyasha remained inside the stuffy, dark hut, obstinately guarding Kagome. Watching over Kagome while she slept in this way wasn't new to him and didn't disturb him very much.

He was, however, beginning to worry when the hut grew rather hot in the afternoon sun and still Kagome showed now sign of waking. It was dark and humid inside, stifling for the hanyou even after he shed his outer haori jacket. Kagome was still wrapped underneath her blanket, she had to be blistering. Tentatively, as his concern began to mount, Inuyasha brushed her hair, then her forehead.

His fingers stopped mid-motion as he touched her skin.

She was cold, like autumn frost over the earth.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha shook her shoulder slightly. Kagome's face showed no signs of wakefulness, not even a ripple of reaction to his touch or his voice. He tried again anyway: "Kagome!"

* * *

Shippo, with an ear always turned toward his adoptive mother, heard Inuyasha's cries and abandoned his game with Kilala. The kit rushed over the grass, panting.

His mad dash caught Miroku's attention. Since breakfast the monk had helped Sango outside, escaping the stifling atmosphere of the hut in favor of the Indian summer outside. Now she lied on one side, curled away from him—not because of anything he'd done, but because of her internal injuries from Inuyasha's rampage the day before. She'd dozed off peacefully at his side. Miroku considered getting up and following Shippo to investigate, but a quick glance at Sango's beautiful, curvaceous hips and waist—turned so conveniently toward him—made the monk hesitate.

His hand twitched, but Miroku restrained it, reminding himself that she was injured. A touch might startle her and hurt her more. Sighing, he laid his head back on the grass and closed his eyes, letting his mind wander to other places, other uninjured women. (A/N: hey, he might love Sango, but I doubt anyone can argue, that's what he'd do…)

Then—ripping through his sexual fantasies—Miroku heard Kilala let out a shrieking howl. He lifted his head, blinkingly. "Kilala?"

The fire cat flew past him, skidding along the ground and catching herself with her powerful claws. The green earth was shredded below her. She growled, ears lying flat, and charged forward again, her twin tails lashing. The entire action had taken place in the space of an eye blink. Miroku, bleary from the sun and his fantasies, at last realized what was happening as he turned his eyes toward the tree line across the field where, moments before, Shippo and Kilala had been playing innocently.

There was a long-bodied creature in the field now. It was snake-like, but had many, many legs. Its body was brownish, ugly like dead and rotting flesh. The legs moved together, dragging the enormous body out of the trees. Miroku lost sight of the rest of it as it twisted back into the trees. The demon reared up, folding back on its long length until its head was ten feet from the ground. It gnashed two pairs of huge, mandible pincers together. Frothy saliva oozed from its mouth.

Kilala rushed at it again, roaring. She slashed at it with her claws and feinted, trying to keep it at bay. The demon, still reared into its upright, battling position, twisted around and rammed its midsection into the fire cat. Kilala was body slammed away from it, hurled toward the tree line this time, away from her protective position guarding Sango and Miroku.

Miroku fumbled for his staff and shouted: "Inuyasha!" the staff found its way comfortably into his palm and the monk leapt to his feet. He clutched the prayer beads around the cursed hand and gritted his teeth, preparing to use it if he had to. He threw out the usual, obligatory warning. "Stay back, demon!"

The slithering beast remained upright after dislodging Kilala's attack. It paused, examining Miroku with its large, glowing red eyes. The uncountable little legs along its body wriggled like worms. The underside of its belly was a pale, marbled gray, like a corpse. Miroku choked a little as he realized that this demon _stank_ as if it were dead. He raised one arm, shielding his nose from it while maintaining his battle stance.

Sango was awake and trying to get up. "Miroku…" her voice was tight, filled with pain and desperation.

The monk turned to look back at her—seeing her clenched, troubled face—and then he heard the demon hiss warningly.

"It's poison!" Sango gasped behind him; snatching up hiraikotsu where it was resting against the tree they'd been napping under. She limped heavily, but with remarkable speed, Sango joined Miroku, stepping in front of him and raising hiraikotsu over them like a shield.

As she predicted, the demon spat a green-white sludge at them. It splattered over hiraikotsu, missing the monk and the slayer as they sheltered underneath it. Where the gunk landed on the grass around them poisonous steam arose, thick and noxious.

"Cover your nose!" Sango ordered, choking.

Miroku nodded and struggled not to gag.

Kilala roared then, leaping into the battle again while the demon was distracted, spitting up on Miroku and Sango.

Inuyasha's voice reached through the din of noise at last: "What the hell?"

Sango gave a small, whimpering noise, and then her body began to sag, going limp. Miroku grabbed at her, trying to support her. He realized that, as long as she held hiraikotsu, she hadn't been able to cover her nose and mouth properly. The poison had reached her. Desperate, he brought his arm down from sheltering his own nose from the fumes, and tried to pry her fingers away from supporting hiraikotsu. "I've got it, Sango, please!"

Her grip was hard, as if she were less living flesh and more like solid, carved stone.

"Miroku! Sango! Get out of there!" Inuyasha was shouting. The sound of his Tetsusaiga transforming could be heard clearly, a bright, loud, ripping sound.

Miroku wrapped his arms around Sango's waist and dragged her backwards. The slayer's grip brought hiraikotsu with them, still angled upward as if it were a shield. Miroku oculd hear the demon hissing, preparing to spit at them again. Kilala was howling somewhere, though whether it was with rage or pain wasn't clear.

"Windscar!" the hanyou shouted.

Bright light streaked forward, ripping into the demon and tearing it to bits. As the brightness passed, grisly chunks of moist, gray flesh splattered the innocent grass. The stench of decay made everyone gag and cover their faces with a free arm if they had one. Kilala wheeled away from the heaps of flesh, snarling and swatting at her nose.

"What the hell?" Inuyasha repeated; his ears swung to and fro. After a quick glance around to be certain that there weren't any other demons like it waiting to attack, Inuyasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga and bounded over the distance between himself and Miroku and Sango. Kilala followed him, still in her larger incarnation and snarling bitterly at the stink in the air.

He stood over Miroku and offered a hand down to help him up. "Does it stink like that cuz it's dead?" (A/N: Has anyone seen the movie _Tremors_? Yeah, go Kevin Bacon!)

Kilala took a spot next to Sango and emitted a low, calming rumble. Sango moaned, weakly reaching up to grasp Kilala's mane. "Inuyasha…"

Miroku and Inuyasha moved as one to reach for Sango, trying to help her up, but she pulled away from them. When she looked up at them her usually warm brown eyes were ringed red with irritation. Her voice was raspy and hoarse, sounding more like Kaede's than Sango's soft, gentle soprano. "It's a centipede demon." She rasped, "Watch its parts—it could come back…" she pawed at her throat with one hand wincing.

Miroku swallowed and felt that the back of his throat was raw as well. "Sango, can you stand?"

She gestured back toward the field with the stinking lumps of gray flesh. "Watch it…"

Inuyasha twisted around and stared back at the field with narrowed, golden eyes. "I'm not seeing…" he paused, catching sight of a small motion. A lump of flesh rolled over the grass, colliding with another in a moist, popping sound. They molded together, slurping, and formed a larger clump of disgusting, gray flesh.

"Dammit." Inuyasha cursed, "Sango! How do we kill it? For real this time."

Miroku had pulled Sango to her feet. She had one arm slung over him and was leaning heavily on him. Her other hand was already holding hiraikotsu. "Kagome could do it, or Houshi-sama…"

At Kagome's name, Inuyasha's ears flicked backward, worriedly. She was inside, cold as stones at the bottom of a riverbed. She breathed as if she were peacefully, deeply slumbering, but in reality something was wrong, Inuyasha knew it in his bones. He touched the spot where their link should've been and felt nothing but that chill, like the wintertime breeze off the sea, like Kagome's skin under his fingers in Kaede's hot, stifling hut. Shippo had come in, mortified at the thought of Kagome being sick or suffering in any way. The kit had tried to wake her, shaking her shoulder, hopping onto her, even going so far as to pull her hair. None of it had brought so much as a wince from Kagome. She simply slept onward.

Miroku was already springing into action. He knelt, helping Sango grasp Kilala's back and fur, then he stood at his full height, drawing in a deep breath. He reached inside his robes for the sutras there. As he started to walk forward, Sango snatched his robe. They stared at one another for a moment, exchanging something that had no words. Inuyasha turned away from it, feeling a tightness in his chest that he didn't like at the sight.

The lumps of centipede demon flesh were coalescing. There were three larger pieces now, rolling and sloshing, wriggling as they searched for one another. When they met there was a wet, slurping sound, like noodles being sucked out of a soup, and then the centipede demon began to take on detail and definition. Legs formed, hundreds of them, wriggling and pawing at the ground. The eyes took shape, two round, huge balls at the top of its flat head. They burned brightly red, even against the full power of the afternoon sunlight.

Sango smiled up at Miroku, "Be careful Houshi-sama."

"For you, Lady Sango," he smirked, "I would do anything."

"I'll believe that when I see it." Sango pulled herself mostly upright on Kilala's back and nudged her sides, giving the fire cat the sign she needed to leap forward, growling and ready to fight again. Hiraikotsu she hefted onto her back with a grimace and held on tightly.

"Sango! What do you want me to do?" Inuyasha demanded, growing irritable. His hand was closed around his sword, ready and eager to draw it again at a moment's notice. The centipede demon was fast recovering its mobility. The stink from it, however, had not diminished at all.

"Destroy it. Miroku will purify the remains." Sango gripped hiraikotsu with one hand and Kilala tightly with the other. Her face was set in a grim scowl of pain. "Take us up, Kilala."

The cat obeyed, leaping into the air and circling overhead. Below them Inuyasha pulled out the Tetsusaiga, transforming the sword instantly and leveling it with the centipede demon. "Get ready to die!" he snarled, ears folding backward.

Sango sent her boomerang flying. "Hiraikotsu!"

The weapon whipped, spinning, through the air and slashed through the reformed centipede's midsection. The demon howled and fell in on itself, losing the delicate balance it had regained after being torn to pieces. Miasma gushed out of its body now, a secondary defense. It hung low over the ground, green grass wilted as it floated over. Miroku and Inuyasha took a step backward, their bodies tensing.

Sango reclaimed hiraikotsu and circled Kilala away, out of Inuyasha's way. At once the impatient hanyou slashed the air and the ground with the windscar. The centipede screeched, high pitched and desperate, but then it flew to pieces all over again. As the light of the windscar diminished, so too did the miasma of the centipede. The stinking hunks of centipede flesh were left in the wake, and everywhere surrounding the carcass the once lush, healthy grass was browned and dying, shriveling away from the negative energies of the demon and the ferocious power of the windscar.

Inuyasha pushed Tetsusaiga into the ground, letting it transform back into its rusty, dull normal state. "Now, Miroku."

The monk was already moving, slapping sutras over the chunks of the carcass with one hand and covering his nose and mouth with the other. He paused several times, fighting back the rise of bile in his throat. After each sutra was placed, and the brief incantation spell uttered to activate it, Miroku slapped the disgusting lumps of lard and they vanished, turning into dust.

Midway through he stopped, leaning on his staff, and tried to avoid the inevitable…too late. He vomited to one side and then resumed quickly, trying to ignore the heat over his face that most certainly meant he was blushing for all he was worth. Luckily no one was really watching him. Sango was searching the area overhead with Kilala, and Inuyasha had already vanished, no doubt going to look after Kagome again…

And Shippo was…?

He thrust his staff into the last of the lumps of centipede flesh and, as it dissolved into dust, realized that aside from Kagome, Shippo had also been missing from the group…

And then, from the hut: _"Kagome!"_

It was Inuyasha's voice, and he was panicked.

Miroku sighed, feeling weakness gathering in his knees and a fresh bout of nausea in his gut. He wiped his mouth, spat to get rid of the taste of vomit, and looked up toward the sky. It was cheery and blue, a perfect early autumn day. Evening was descending swiftly on the earth, spreading peace it seemed to everyone else but the Shard hunters. Fresh air lifted the invisible weight of worry from Miroku's shoulders ever so slightly.

A slash of brilliant orange-red fire drew his attention. Kilala was coming in to land in the ruined field. Her face was pale and strained, but otherwise untroubled. Miroku felt a small relief. Her strength, her beauty, her endurance…she would make an excellent wife and mother. Nothing would stop her, she'd made that clear time and time again.

For the briefest of moments Miroku allowed himself to think of her and her alone, fondly. The warmth of his emotion for her—dare it be called love?—swarmed over him and filled him with calm and comfort. He thought of embracing her, of sneaking the quick feel and getting the accompanying slap…

And then Inuyasha burst out of Kaede's hut, carrying an unconscious Shippo in one arm and Kagome's blankets and sleeping bag in the other. _"Kagome!!"_

Kilala landed then but remained in her large form, letting Sango use her as transportation. The demon slayer and Kilala stared with growing worry at the hanyou, but it was Miroku that spoke for them in his own raspy, injured voice. "What's wrong?"

"She's _gone, fucking gone!"_ Inuyasha was screeching. His golden eyes were wide, like a dog with its foot caught in a trap; the whites of his eyes were visible. He hefted up Kagome's blankets and sleeping bag, "I found these—and—" he tossed the blankets onto the grass and lifted Shippo for them to see. The kit was limp, looking more like a stuffed fox doll now than a real, living creature. One cheek was bright red and puffy with swelling.

Sango, Miroku, and Kilala blinked, shocked and confused. "What…?"

Inuyasha pushed the unconscious kit at Miroku and turned his back on them, bounding away without another word.

"Wait—Inuyasha!" but the hanyou wasn't going to waste time talking. The scent was still fresh, and he would follow it to the death if he had to, like a bloodhound.

* * *

When Inuyasha had left Kagome sleeping to fight the centipede demon, Shippo was left with his adoptive mother. Frantic to wake her, the kit pushed on her shoulder, pulled her hair, even bit her enough to perhaps leave a bruise. Nothing drew a response. The sounds from outside the hut were growing louder as time passed, more intense. Shippo contemplated leaving Kagome to join the battle, but decided against it. If the others failed he would need to protect Kagome because she couldn't protect herself.

He tried to rouse her one last time. Guiltily, checking the door to make sure Inuyasha wasn't able to see, Shippo nipped Kagome's arm, clamping on and letting his canines nick her delicate, chilled skin. This time there was success—Kagome's muscles moved under his tiny teeth, she made a small noise in her throat. Instantly he let go and grinned, "Kagome! You're a—"

Her fist slammed into his face, knocking him backward. The kit screeched—but the sounds of his cries were lost in the noises of battle outside. He shook his head, blinking dazedly, and lifted his stunned green eyes upward.

Kagome had gotten to her feet. She was stiff, like stone, but she struck with the speed and cruelty of a viper. With one foot she lashed out, kicking him in the face. Shippo tried to move away from her, crying helplessly and spluttering, but the door was too far away, Kagome was too fast. The shock of her blows, and the power in them, blew Shippo away. Darkness closed over him.

* * *

When Kagome woke and opened her eyes from her deep, death-like sleep, the world was a hazy place. Her first sensation had been one of pain, a set of little needles poking into her arm. When her eyes had revealed the world to her, dark and blurry and unbelievably hot, she saw the tiny lizard demon that had attacked her the night before.

Anger rose within her, fierce and hot, stronger than almost any she'd known before. She snarled at it as Inuyasha might've and hit it. The motions were unclear in her mind and in her body. Sensations were wrong. Instead of the cold, clammy skin of a lizard, the creature she hit had warm, soft skin. She ignored this false input and pushed herself to her feet.

The lizard was still there, shaking its head, recovering from her slap. It hissed at her. Kagome wanted nothing more than to slaughter it, to step on its head and rub it into the floor, to mush its brains. Viciously she kicked at it, sent it tumbling off to one side.

It made a sound like a child, sending a jolt of alarm through her briefly.

It was trying to get away! The lizard was streaking for the light of the doorway. She lashed out with her foot, knocking it back, and then kicked with everything she had. It was a soccer ball. She was fighting against Kikyo in a world series. The reward was Inuyasha's affection, she she'd be damned if she'd let a _dead_ priestess beat her.

The lizard slammed against the wall on the other side of the room, a solid goal made in her favor. When it fell it remained still this time, unmoving. Oddly, this left Kagome frustrated. She wanted it to rise up again, to attack. It hadn't been punished enough for what it'd done to her. The scratches on her nose, in her mouth, over all of her face, burned and stung sharply as a reminder.

Kagome took a step forward, thinking of violence, of pain—but she stopped herself, uncertain. The memory of the thing's warm, furry body against her hand returned to her, troublingly. The lizard had been cold, clammy. When it had latched itself onto her face, trying—however strange this was—to force its way into her mouth, Kagome had felt its cold, reptilian skin very clearly. There was no way the thing before her now could be the lizard…

She recalled Kilala with the lizard's tail hanging out of her small, slender jaws like a particularly long, juicy noodle.

_The lizard is dead._

_No, it's not._

Kagome blinked, fighting dizziness and the strange, uncontrollable waves of anger. On some level she knew something was very wrong with her, or perhaps the world. One or the other was wrong, but she couldn't be sure which it was. She held her hands out in front of her, turning them over so she could see both sides, the palms and the knuckles. Her vision was distorted. Her fingers left long, blurry trails, false images of themselves. It was as if her brain was slowed down dramatically and unable to keep up with her physical movement, so she saw multiple, blurred images of her hands as they moved in front of her face.

When she glanced up at the lizard, lying as if dead against the wall on the other side of the hut, Kagome found it strange that the lizard was picture perfect. The rest of her world was blurry beyond belief, but the lizard was clear cut as day and night, white and black.

Disturbed, Kagome turned toward the door, toward the light of the outside world. Her stomach tried to evacuate itself and she fell forward onto her knees, clutching it. Droplets of sweat pooled over her body, her skin flashed hot and cold in waves.

_What's wrong with me?_

The answer floated to her on a rush of anger. It powered her limbs, calmed her stomach, and steadied her equilibrium.

_I'm pregnant. That's what it is…_

Sounds reached her from outside, Sango's voice crying: "Hiraikotsu!"

Kagome tensed, realizing there was a battle going on outside. Why was she inside? Had she been injured? Poisoned? She tried to search her memory, but like her vision it was clouded and unclear and painfully slow.

She froze, stunned, as suddenly, deep within her mind; she felt the long-since dormant link with Inuyasha flare to life. It was tender, tiny, but she could feel over it and sense him dimly. She touched it cautiously, sending a thought at it. _Inuyasha?_

_Kagome._ The link was like a dam, blocking most of his mind and hiding it from her, but some of it, a tiny shred, reached her. Kagome felt her body relax with relief as she felt his emotion trickling out of the link. _You're in danger._

_What's going on?_ She started for the door again, but stopped when she sensed Inuyasha's disapproval. _What should I do?_

_Don't go that way. There's a centipede demon. Miroku and Sango are driving it off._

There was shouting outside. She thought she heard Inuyasha's voice. _What do you want me to do?_ She clung, in spite of her confusion and doubt, to the link that had appeared inside her mind. It sounded like Inuyasha, the occasional emotion she received felt like Inuyasha…

_Out the back. Kaede will take you._

Kagome stumbled, trying to follow his instructions. She moved through the darkness of the hut, fighting nausea at the swirls of the blurry world around her. _I feel sick, Inuyasha. What happened?_

_You were poisoned. Kaede has medicine for you._

She felt another spurt of alarm. These instructions were beginning to sound less like her hanyou, also the emotions flowing out of the small, narrow link were fewer and thin, unconvincing. She shook off her uncertainties, telling herself that Inuyasha might've been in the middle of battle while talking with her.

She reached Kaede's room, even darker and muggier than the rest of the hut. Briefly she paused, doubling over and holding her stomach, fighting back the nausea and the growing need to vomit. The strange anger rose within her, giving her its strange strength, but Kagome resisted it. She grabbed hold of her link with Inuyasha and asked, _Am I going to die?_

There was a pause, which was strange for him considering the question, and then: _Hell no!_

Somehow, Kagome wasn't convinced.

Light dazzled her then, making her wince and fall to her knees, shielding her eyes. She struggled, squinting; trying to see what was going on. Something had broken through the wall to Kaede's room. Light spilled in, as did dust and a thick stench of death from the outside.

Kagome could hold it no longer. She bent over and gagged, puking onto the floor. Even her vomit was difficult to see. It was nothing but a blur of color against the brown of the wooden floor.

Inuyasha spoke in her head, impatient now: _Hurry!_

A cold hand grasped her arm. She looked up and saw an old woman's face, shriveled like a prune. Startled, Kagome pulled away, stumbling in her own vomit and gasping. "You're not…" but her vision was so blurred—_was_ it Kaede?

The old woman was about Kaede's height, with the same stooped, hunched posture and white-gray hair. "Come child." she spoke with Kaede's voice, but there was a smell, a _sense_ of wrongness…

Inuyasha was shouting in her brain, she could feel his worry and desperation: _Hurry Kagome! The demon's out of control!_

She hesitated. _I can help…_

_No!_ He was rash now, angry, _Are you stupid? Go with Kaede! Please, Kagome…for the pup…_

She remembered his anger, at the thought that she would abort the baby, she remembered the promise she'd made…

Swallowing thickly, Kagome stepped forward and let the cold, clammy fingers of "Kaede" take hold of her arm. "This way, child."

Kagome followed obediently.

* * *

I am done...made it extra long...or tried to anyway...hope you all enjoyed...:-) 


	35. Rampage

A/N: And so I am coming down to the end of my semester. Finals, moving out of my dorm room, going to work…(siiiiiigh). (wow that was written a while ago…)

Disclaimer: Nooooope

* * *

Last Chapter: The lizard demon attacked Kagome in the night, but Kilala ate it. Kagome slept later than usual, and in the afternoon a centipede demon attacked the group. Inuyasha, Kilala, Miroku, and Sango fought and defeated it, only to discover that Kagome had disappeared while they were distracted, and she beat the living daylights out of Shippo, who was watching over her to boot. Mrs. H received a lecture from Shinku about fate, and humankind's inability to leave things alone in the form of a scratchy retelling of _The Tragedy of Oedipus._ If you don't know it you should, it's excellent. Older than Shakespeare and cleverer too if I may say so.

* * *

**Rampage**

Trees towered around and over Kagome. A few were changing color, maples. Their leaves were preparing already for wintertime. Some were orange, but most were bright, fiery red—like Inuyasha's haori, or like fresh blood spurting from a wound. As she walked by them the colors leached together, oranges, yellows, red, and green. It was like viewing her world through a kaleidoscope, or perhaps through teary eyes.

The old woman led her on through the forest, over the brown, decaying leaf litter. Hills covered in ferns, some still green, others folding over onto themselves, dying away as if burned. Their colors ran together as well, making Kagome feel dizzy. Everywhere she looked the world was distorted.

She pulled away from the old woman's cold, clammy touch and bent over, holding her stomach.

The old woman stayed close. "What's the matter, child?" it was Kaede's voice, raspy, hoarse, and deep.

"My stomach." Kagome groaned. She tried to make her vision clear as she stared at the ground, willed herself to see the individual leaves coating the forest floor. There was nothing but decayed brown and the occasional strand of green, what she assumed was grass. "I can't see right."

She touched Inuyasha in her mind again, _Please, what's wrong with me? This isn't Kaede…_

Was he really Inuyasha?

_Of course I'm me!_ The hanyou answered immediately, sounding irritated and insulted that she could entertain such a thought. _And of course that's Kaede! Look Kagome, the poison is getting to you—it's making you see like that. It's making you think we're the enemy._

Kagome closed her eyes, fought dizziness and nausea. _Why aren't you with me?_

His answer was filled with tenderness, concern: _I will be, as soon as I can._

"Child, it's just a little further." Kaede said, reaching out to her. "Just up that hill."

Kagome lifted her gaze, trying to follow the old woman's finger and the direction she was pointing in. The hill was a blob, a blur of browns and greens and grays. Light shimmered in from the canopy above and Kagome choked at it, averting her eyes. "I can't see it."

"I will guide you." Kaede reached out and grasped Kagome's arm. Her touch was cold and damp, almost slimy.

Kagome gasped and pulled away, half stumbling. "You're not Lady Kaede!" she gagged, doubling over, trying to hold back the contents of her stomach. "Why would the others have you lead me away like this?"

She turned, trying to head back in the direction they'd come, but Inuyasha's voice invaded her head, powerfully, shouting with panic.

_Kagome! No! Go with Kaede, please! Dammit! The demon is going after you, run Kagome! Run!_

"Child—you are too ill to journey on your own. You must come with me." Kaede told her, also sounding urgent.

"You're not Kaede." Kagome repeated, groaning and leaning against the nearest tree. She tried to push herself off, to disobey "Inuyasha" and "Kaede" by heading back the way they'd come, but her mind reeled. Dizziness swept over her—and something else too. Her extra senses, those of the miko, rose up within her. A demon was approaching, just as Inuyasha had said. It was fast, rushing toward her.

Fear made Kagome stumble backward. The leaf litter tripped her, she started to fall…

Warm hands took hold of her shoulders from behind, catching her. Kagome blinked and, with a rush of relief that broke over her like the sweat after a fever, recognized the blaze of red cloth, the brightness of silver-white hair, the peaks of dog ears, and the honey of keen, hawk-like eyes. "Inuyasha…"

She felt his warm arms scoop her up, gently. "I've got you Kagome."

Kagome grasped his haori and snuggled into him. With each breath her limbs grew heavier, her heart slowed. Her eyelids dipped shut, her body fell limp.

A wind rushed up over the couple from down the path. It was a rough gale, born suddenly. It shook the trees, disturbed the leaf litter and sent it flying. Dead leaves pelted Inuyasha and tugged at his hair. He stood, unmoving for the moment with the unconscious Kagome in his arms, staring down the path with a dark smile on his face.

The wind died as abruptly as it had come. Light, feminine feet set themselves on the path ahead of Inuyasha only a few yards away. Barefoot, they stepped forward, rippling a red and white striped kimono with each movement.

"It's about time." A deep, but young female voice complained.

"You would do well to keep quiet." Inuyasha warned her, but his voice was no longer that of the hanyou's. It had dropped and become smoother, silkier, smothering.

Kagura snapped her fan closed and the old woman—a corpse—that she had used to stand in as Kaede, fell uselessly on the path. "What do you want me to do now?" she turned round on the path and stared down it, narrowing her red eyes. "Am I to distract Inuyasha?"

"No, he doesn't need to battle us. There will be enough of our scent here that he will understand what's happened to his precious miko." Not-Inuyasha adjusted Kagome in his arms, smirking down at her limp body.

"And why not just kill her now?" Kagura demanded, crossing her arms impatiently and tapping her fan.

"Where's the fun in that, Kagura?" Naraku asked, chuckling sinisterly. He tapped Kagome's chin, caressed her face almost lovingly for a moment. Kagura watched him with narrowed, observant eyes. Naraku lifted his gaze then, inhaled quickly. "We must go. Inuyasha is coming after her."

* * *

Inuyasha barreled through the forest on all fours, sniffing. The scent was not hard to follow, he knew Kagome's distinct flavor very well. The other scent, however, bothered him. It was an old woman—a _dead_ old woman. He crossed footprints, Kagome's slender feet and a thicker shorter set that must've been left by the old woman.

A _dead_ old woman who left footprints…?

Panic was starting to swarm over him, driving him onward faster and faster. He had nearly crested the final hill when he caught two new scents—but in truth they weren't new at all. A chill passed through him, and rage as well. He raced upward, throwing up hunks and clods of dirt and dead leaves as he went. There was a shape ahead, lying on the ground, but Inuyasha knew it wasn't Kagome. The scent of death was strong inside his nostrils, setting him on edge.

The old woman's footsteps ended where she'd fallen in a heap, very clearly dead. Flies already buzzed over her body, trying to land and lay their eggs. _Why would Kagome follow this old _dead_ woman?_

But he already knew the answer, it was their in the two new sets of footprints and in the new scents. Kagura and Naraku. Kagura had reanimated the old woman and somehow convinced Kagome to follow her. There were no signs of a struggle that he'd seen other than the torn wall of Kaede's hut and Shippo's injuries, but those were all things Kagome herself could've done. The footprints never spoke of a struggle between Kagome and the old woman, only one leading and the other following.

It hadn't been more than two minutes ago that Kagome had stood here…

Inuyasha felt his shoulders sagging, his ears drooping, and his heart hammering. There was a tightness in his chest, perhaps like a heart attack, something Kagome had told him about while she was studying in one of her silly textbooks. He groped within his mind, searching for their link…and found nothing.

His claws dug into the earth, he gritted his teeth. _"Kagome!"_

His call echoed off the trees, spooked the birds out of their roosts in a loud clatter of wings. When a couple flew over his head, Inuyasha leapt at them slashing. Feathers and blood flew through the air; one of the birds fell out of the air like a stone, in pieces.

Naraku had taken Kagome from him, right out from under his nose. He'd failed her and the unborn pup growing within her. Thoughts, emotions, everything, spun uncontrollably inside his skull. He tried to think coherently, tried to plot out a plan to bring her back, to save her, but the panic and the grief were immense, swallowing all of his logical thoughts. Over and over he touched the link, and over and over found nothing there.

Blindly he returned, still on all fours, to the last spot where he could see her footprints. They scuffed the leaf litter, falling or stumbling. Then there were no more tracks. No other scents, just Naraku and Kagura. Kagome had been barefoot, weaponless.

Roaring like an animal, Inuyasha lashed out at the nearest tree, slashing out its trunk. The thing creaked and groaned and then cracked, lurching to one side. Inuyasha rammed his body into it, forcing it over the rest of the way. He didn't stay to watch it fall, but rather tore out the guts of the next tree, sending it to join its partner.

Where would Naraku take Kagome? Why wouldn't he stay to fight? They'd come in this perfect moment…

The pieces of the puzzle eluded Inuyasha. He attacked another tree and let out another helpless cry: _"Kagome!"_

* * *

Kilala had taken to the air, with Sango clinging to her back. In Sango's lap the unconscious, beaten Shippo groaned, slowly regaining consciousness. Sango didn't pause in her search of the world below when she tried to speak to the kit. "Shippo—you're awake?"

"What?" he muttered, moving only weakly, touching his face tentatively and then yelping with pain. "What's going on?"

"I was going to ask you that." She pinched her lips together, troubled. "Do you remember what happened? Do you know where Kagome is?"

Shippo held tightly to Kilala's fur as they dove sharply through the air. His head throbbed, everything hurt. The only answer he could summon up was a moan.

"There he is." Sango murmured, and Kilala growled. Their descent steepened, the tree tops came closer. Shippo watched as a few of them wavered, slightly at first, and then violently, the whole tree shaking. He heard the crack as it snapped and started to fall.

And then Kilala entered the canopy and set down in the forest. Sango shouted, "Inuyasha!"

The hanyou was moving between the trees, attacking them. His ears were flat against his skull, his eyes narrowed down to slits. He didn't move as a human, but rather more like an animal, bounding on all fours. When Sango called his name he didn't respond, as if the word had no meaning to him, as if he didn't recognize it at all.

"Dammit." Sango cursed, "He's gone mad."

Shippo swallowed nervously, "W-what?"

Sango ignored him and urged Kilala forward. She clung tightly to the fire cat's mane. Her face was set, grim, and determined. The cat anticipated her master's needs. She moved alongside Inuyasha, growling to get his attention.

"Inuyasha!" Sango yelled, "You must listen to me! Calm down! Naraku wants you to react this way! Inuyasha!"

The hanyou whirled at last to face her, crouched low, like an animal. He bared his teeth like a dog and growled. "Where would he take her?" Inuyasha shouted, so loudly that both Shippo and Sango cringed. "Where!" he roared, and turned his back on them, lunging at the trees again.

Kilala made a small, low noise in the back of her throat, expressing hopelessness. Sango drew a deep breath and sat back, trying to straighten her posture with as little pain as possible. "We have to get him to stop this."

"How?" Shippo gulped.

Sango released her grip on Kilala with one hand and grabbed hold of hiraikotsu on her back. She let it fly, shouting a warning with it. The massive boomerang whipped through the trees and cut in a circular path around Inuyasha, cutting into some of the trees he was closest to. This drew his attention more than words ever could: violence, threat, an enemy. He whirled round to face her, crouched on all fours. He didn't spring, which told Sango he wasn't completely mad, not yet anyway.

"Inuyasha!" Shippo yelled, "Snap out of it! Knocking down trees isn't going to help us find Kagome!"

The hanyou was no longer seeing them clearly. He growled, brandishing his claws and baring his teeth just before he rushed at them. Kilala leapt out of the way, but with only microseconds to spare. Inuyasha slashed at a tree on the opposite side of the path. A small furry mammal, a rabbit or a rat, squealed and tried to run away through the underbrush. Inuyasha caught it with one bound and tore the innocent creature limb from limb.

Sango watched him with an unwavering, grim gaze. "Shippo—I want you to run and find Lady Kaede and Miroku. Tell them to bring something to force him to sleep."

"Sango?" Shippo asked, choking with shock and rising grief.

"Go!" she batted at him with one hand, "Now!"

The kit jumped from Kilala and dashed away as fast as he could. Inuyasha spotted the movement and turned to chase him, but Kilala blocked his path. The hanyou snarled and slashed blindly, wildly, at the fire cat. "Get out of my way!"

"No! Inuyasha, focus on my voice—we'll _find Kagome._ Do you hear me?"

He heard her, but to the hanyou it was only noise, meaningless noise, wordless sounds rising out of a human's throat. And that human stood in his way. He snarled at her, fixing her in his sights, gazing at her with eyes that had lost their pupils, becoming blood red.

* * *

Naraku carted the peaceful, limp body of the reincarnated priestess deep into the small human palace he had claimed—for just this event. He continued to wear his false form, Inuyasha's appearance. The red-robed, white-eared and bright hair of the hanyou was unmistakable inside the darkened, shadowed walls of the palace. Black-inked paintings decorated the _fusuma_ screen walls, appearing dark and perhaps crusted, like dried and ancient blood.

Kagura followed him, arms crossed, her face set in a sour, embittered expression. She watched stonily as Naraku stepped into a small room in the far back and set the sleeping miko onto the floor neatly. He took the time to arrange her limbs, lying her arms at her sides, straightening her long legs, even smoothing the girl's messy, dirty green kimono. Kagura watched silently, her eyes narrowed carefully.

Naraku paused before stepping away from the girl. Slowly, he reached out and took a gentle hold of her chin with his falsely-clawed fingertips. Then, as if she'd burned him, Naraku pulled back, making a tiny hissing sound.

"What is it?" Kagura asked, shifting position and taking a step forward, as if ready to either attack her master or offer aid.

"This girl…" Naraku began, speaking in Inuyasha's voice except with a slower pace, a deeper pitch, and delicately enunciated words, "I had not realized…"

Kagura saw Naraku's hands twitching at his side. At first she thought it was a sign that he was beginning to reject the false form he was wearing, but when his hands curled into fists and he stepped back from the girl's body, she realized it was something more profound. Naraku's face, or rather Inuyasha's, was set in a cold, solemn glare—and the glare was directed at the girl.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, letting herself relax and reveal her genuine interest. "This _is_ the girl you wanted, is she not? She possessed the ability to see the Shards of the Jewel…"

Naraku flicked his red—even in his false form mimicking Inuyasha those eyes were dark, blood red—and the little motion silenced Kagura's questions. "Leave, Kagura."

The wind demon blinked for a moment, baffled, and then turned her back on him, stepping out of the room and moving down the hall without another word.

Alone inside the room, Naraku's shoulders shuddered for a moment, and a fine layer of dust fell from him, like water from a dog's coat when it shakes. The dust scattered when it hit the floor, vanishing into thin air. Now Naraku stood in the room without his false form. Dark-haired and red-eyed. He drew a slow, deep breath, stretching faintly as his body relaxed and became comfortable in its real skin again.

At last he turned his attention back to the sleeping miko. She had the soul of a priestess, through and through. That had always been true of her, but one thing had changed. Kikyo's soul had joined with this miko some time ago, as had been apart of Naraku's plan. Their two souls could not exist indefinitely apart from one another, and because this miko was still _living_ she had the right-of-way. For years Kikyo had held onto her own tiny bit of their shared soul, the bitter, broken, and mournful thing that it was, and she'd functioned almost as a living creature.

And during that time she had always been a thorn in his side. Time and time again he'd tried to kill her. Kikyo's powers terrified the demon within him, but there were remnants of Onigumo as well, and he was weakened in Kikyo' presence. It was hard to kill her, and so, as was his style, Naraku found a way around it.

As he'd lost most of the Sacred Jewel in a battle some time ago—that Jewel now rested around this miko's neck, purified and controlled—Naraku had lied low, plotting. He feared Kikyo's purifying powers, and longed to be rid of them, but dared not engage her directly, _especially_ without the help of the Jewel. His minions encountered the priestess sometimes, and gradually Naraku became aware that Inuyasha's group and Kikyo rarely crossed paths. In fact, the dead priestess _avoided_ Inuyasha and the others. He came to realize that this was because Kikyo could only withstand her reincarnation's presence for a short period of time. Any longer and her scrap of a soul tried to leave her for its larger, and living half.

The miko before him had been like a well to Kikyo. The reincarnation fed Kikyo, and her living presence had kept Kikyo's soul tied to the earth with more strength than she otherwise ever would've had. When Kikyo was gravely injured in battles with Naraku or other foes, she needed only to lie in wait as her soul drew increments of power from her reincarnation's larger soul. In other instances the reincarnation herself healed Kikyo—she was the only one that could.

The reincarnation was Kikyo's greatest strength, and her greatest weakness. Naraku realized attacking Kikyo was pointless. It was like stripping the leaves from a tree. As long as the roots remained, it would live onward, making new leaves. Instead of stripping away leaves, he had to rip out the roots. So he sent out the snake demon, fatally poisoning Kikyo's reincarnation. Kikyo, realizing that the well-source of her soul was dying, was irresistibly drawn back to it. She had joined with her reincarnation, losing herself as Naraku had planned, and at long last relieving him of that thorn in his side.

But although that had gone according to plan, the miko he'd captured now, Inuyasha's mate, was not as he'd anticipated. The weakness inside Naraku still looked at her with desire, with something bordering on tenderness. Not only did she appear as a look-alike to Kikyo, which he'd already known, but now she _felt_ like one to him as well. Kikyo's added soul into the reincarnation's made her powerful and dangerous. Originally he'd hoped for the opposite, that Kikyo's soul would be drowned out in the reincarnation's, and her power would be lost. But it seemed that with Kikyo's contribution added into the mix, the reincarnation was just as powerful as Kikyo, perhaps even more so now that she was whole.

He tentatively touched on the link that Eki the lizard had died to get him. The girl's mind was blurry and unclear, but her dreams were of Inuyasha's arms, the safety and security of them. Naraku smirked smugly. _Yes, you are safe here, miko…_

Deep within her mind, shielded away so that she was unaware of him completely, Naraku could feel the real Inuyasha, clamoring for her, desperate, and mad with worry and grief and the sense that he had failed her…

Chuckling, Naraku left the room, walking down the dark hallway slowly until he found Kagura relaxed against the walls, snapping her fan open and closed, open and closed. When she heard his footsteps she stopped and slid the fan into her robes. "What do you look so happy about?" she demanded, frowning.

Naraku didn't bother to dwell on her usual bitterness, her usual plots of escape and freedom and the flowing wind and whatever else it was that entertained her. Instead he plunged right into business. "Adjust the wind, Kagura. Let Inuyasha scent his miko here and come after us."

Kagura's lips turned downward, she opened her mouth to say something else, but Naraku had already turned his back on her and started down the hallway again. With a quick roll of her eyes, Kagura stepped outside and reached to the back of her head, plucking one of the small, downy feathers that grew there.

"If he wants wind, I'll give him wind." She muttered.

* * *

Inuyasha leapt at Sango and Kilala, snarling like an animal, claws raised and flexed in a position that was ready to draw blood—ready to kill. The fire cat yowled and twisted away from him, evading the hanyou's vicious claws. Sango held onto her mane tightly, gritting her teeth with fresh pain. If she fell from Kilala she would be at Inuyasha's mercy, his insanity, and his speed. She was in no condition to keep him at bay for long, and she couldn't kill him.

"Inuyasha!" she called again, breathing roughly, "You now I'm not your enemy, please!" she watched the hanyou whirl back to face her and Kilala in their new position and crouch, preparing to spring. How had Kagome reclaimed the hanyou when he'd been too far gone? How had she snapped him back into his senses…?

_Sit._

It wouldn't work, she knew, but she tried it anyway as Inuyasha launched himself at her, flying through the air like a spirit, like a cat pouncing on prey. "Sit!"

The hanyou faltered, cringing and moving away from her, growling. He shook his head, making his ears flop loosely. He remembered that word, remembered its power over him, but now that it had been used without result he would start to forget it. For now, however, Inuyasha was stunned and forced to recall the woman in charge of that word and its power over him. His eyes cleared as he lifted his gaze to Sango and Kilala. He blinked dazedly and then his arms started to shake.

"Kagome?" he breathed her name, remorsefully, and his whole body started to quiver, from his toes to his ears. He was searching Sango as if he couldn't recognize her, as if she were a stranger to him, and the longer he looked the darker his expression became as he realized she wasn't Kagome.

"Inuyasha, listen to me! Try to think clearly! We'll find Kagome—but we need your nose! You have to stop attacking everything…" her lips parted, exposing her clenched teeth in a silent maw of pain and frustration. Inuyasha was fast losing interest in her. His eyes were darkening; the gleam of intelligence was fading. His shaking was turning into more violent, enraged spasms. His claws flexed, readying themselves for the kill.

And then, abruptly, there was a rushing sound, the trees that were still standing around them whooshed and sighed in a fresh breeze. Dust flew up into the air, making Inuyasha's breathing change into a wheeze as it irritated his sensitive nose. Sango lifted one arm up to cover her own nose and eyes. Kilala winced, blinkingly. The breeze carried a stink of decay with it, a rotting odor. Sango could only smell it faintly, but Kilala and Inuyasha caught it at once. Sango felt the fire cat stiffen beneath her and in the same instant, Inuyasha let loose with an inhuman noise, a howl that made the fine hairs all over her body stand on edge.

Losing all interest in her, Inuyasha turned his back on the fire cat and the demon slayer, facing the wind. He was panting and crouched on all fours. He growled out a word that Sango barely recognized as an intelligible word: _"Naraku."_

He rushed into that breezy wind, into the shadow of the trees. He rammed into one, clumsily, and slashed at it with his claws, sending the innocent tree falling as its trunk splintered into a thousand pieces of bark, splattering sap, and dust.

"We can't let him go yet, Kilala." Sango ordered, holding on tightly. The fire cat yowled and raced forward, taking flight. She wheeled through the air, maneuvering until she was ahead of and parallel to the rampaging hanyou below her. Trees shuddered as Inuyasha passed through them, branches bowed and shook as he leapt from them or landed on them. Sango released her grip on Kilala with one hand and reached for Hiraikotsu. She took a deep breath and nudged Kilala with one foot, directing the fire cat lower and perpendicular to Inuyasha's path. They descended, threading their way between the trees at high speed.

The hanyou was leaping forward, a red blur, like blood spurting from a fatal wound. Sango took aim and lifted the boomerang, shouting as she let it fly. "Hiraikotsu!"

It carved through the trees, splintering them and knocking them into Inuyasha's path. The clumsy, rage-driven hanyou crashed into one of them as it was falling. He didn't cry out, merely slashed furiously, cutting the tree into pieces. But other debris was falling down around him, and not all of it could be avoided. A massive tree branch careened down from the canopy, smashing into Inuyasha just as he forced his way through the first falling tree. It caught him, knocking him to the ground, and pinning him.

The boomerang whipped through the air, finding its way easily back to its master. Sango extended her arm and caught the weapon, though the effort made her cry out and stumble, nearly falling. She pulled on Kilala's mane, signaling her to land.

Kilala landed about twenty feet away. The wind ruffled her mane, tossed her two tails about. She made a low sound in her throat, a noise of concern or doubt as Sango grunted, heaving herself off of the fire cat's back.

"Go get the others, Kilala—hurry." Her face was grim, her jaw squared and tightly clenched.

The fire cat's ears lowered worriedly while her eyes watched the trees, still clattering and thudding as they landed in a heap of destruction. As they came to a rest, they continued to move, not with gravity any longer, but now with an upward force created by a snarling, vicious hanyou that had taken leave of his senses.

Sango slapped at Kilala's flank. "Go…"

The fire cat ducked her head in agreement and leapt into the air, vanishing swiftly into the sky with a last roar of fire. Sango watched her go for one moment too long…

The heap of fallen trees split apart, flying wildly in every direction. Splintered pieces of wood flew in every direction like shrapnel from a bomb. A sword-sized piece flew past Sango's face, smacking into a tree a few feet away from her and driving itself into the trunk, deeply. Sap bubbled out around it. Sango's attention was drawn to the impact in that microsecond, and then in the next she was aware that this was not the only piece of shrapnel…

Pain hit her in several places. Along her side, in her leg, in her forearm. Sango stumbled, barely catching herself with one hand on the ground. She bit her tongue, forcing herself to keep the cries of pain inside. Her eyes focused on the ground. Ants scurrying, a little caterpillar chewing on a blade of grass, a fern ducking near her face, its feathery touch brushing her cheek…and if she looked a little to her left she'd see the little dribble of crimson red as well as her blood spilled into the tawny dirt, disturbing the ants.

A snarling sound reached her ears and Sango collapsed a little more, catching herself on her uninjured knee and turning to the source of the noise. Inuyasha was emerging from the fallen trees, stepping over them slowly, stiffly. He was seemingly uninjured with his run in with them, and for that Sango was both pleased and full of despair at once. If the hanyou was still running at peak efficiency physically—she was doomed.

"Inuyasha…" she choked out his name, wheezing. "Please! It's me, it's Sango…"

He glared at her, golden eyes narrowed, but only for a moment. his interest in her waned almost at once as the wind picked up, blowing the stink of Naraku toward him and…something different. His face transformed from a simple glare to a raging snarl filled with pain and disgust. _"Kagome…"_

He howled again, dropping to all fours and crushing a few tree branches between his claws. They cracked and splintered, six inched thick but breaking under his grip like toothpicks or hay.

Sango watched him, whimpering and grimacing with pain, struggling to hold herself up. Her blood was beading as it hit the ground, like red pearls. She grunted, pushing herself up and snatching the large shrapnel that stuck out from the tree at her side. Standing upright hurt intensely, white hot pain shot through her side as the splinters and daggers of wood moved with her muscles. More blood splattered, pushed out with her effort.

Inuyasha tensed, leaping into the trees above them, ready to move on in his desperate, mindless search for his mate.

Sango saw and sensed the red blur moving above her, getting away. She slammed her right shoulder into the tree, wincingly, and reached with her uninjured right hand for Hiraikotsu. She let it fly off balance, using everything she had left within her to do it. The boomerang smacked into Inuyasha, pushing him out of the trees mid-leap. The hanyou fell heavily to the ground with a growl. Hiraikotsu landed nearby, sticking into the ground by one end, pointing upright like a monolith to its fallen prey and its fallen master.

Trembling, Sango fell onto her side. She cried out as she landed, feeling warm, sticky wetness coating her entire left side. Breathing hurt, moving was agony. When she finally summoned the courage to look at her side, Sango whimpered pathetically. There was shrapnel, bits of wood, sticking out of her everywhere. She looked like a porcupine.

Inuyasha was snarling, growling, sounding less like a bipedal humanoid creature every passing second. He was on his feet again, this time with her destruction in mind. Sango could feel his footsteps thumping on the ground, moving toward her. The popping sound of his knuckles reached her as well.

She tried to speak but her voice was weak. There would be no way for her to escape Inuyasha. They would have to kill each other. Sango closed her eyes, fighting tears of both pain and hopelessness as she reached for her belt, for the small, thin sword she kept there. She gripped the handle and positioned herself so that she would be able to roll and thrust it at the hanyou with minimal effort…

"Sango!" a male voice shouted, high pitched, frantic. The demon slayer blinked once, letting her eyes be blinded by the light from the now open canopy, the sunlight peeking down. She saw Kilala's form, the fire leaping around her feet. She was coming in close, swooping overhead.

Something heavy landed next to her in the next second, and Sango found herself blinking at a set of sandals and dark, purple black robes. "Inuyasha!" Miroku shouted, thrusting out his hand in warning, "Stay back!"

The hanyou was too far gone to respond. He cracked his knuckles again, preparing to strike. He lunged forward and Miroku hefted his staff, slugging the hanyou across the face. Inuyasha backpedaled, snarling. His nose was spurting a small amount of blood now, completely ignored by him. Miroku had lifted his arm again, showing the cursed palm warningly. He was gripping the prayer beads that controlled the wind tunnel and resting his staff against one shoulder. "I won't let him harm you, Sango." He murmured.

Sango had not yet released her grasp on her sword, but she found herself trying to chuckle, though no sound came out and the movements of her chest only caused more pain. "Too late, Houshi…"

From above them, Shippo's voice cried out: "Look out!" Kilala flew overhead, whirling and whipping past the demon slayer and the monk. She roared, coming in low. Shippo was perched on her head, holding a small cloth, carefully wrapped. As the fire cat raced toward Inuyasha, the hanyou ducked, rolling away, and Shippo shouted, "Fox fire!"

The hanyou wasn't his target; instead his little flame was aimed at the sack he was holding. The cloth burst into flame and Shippo threw it away from him and Kilala. It flew through the air, landing several feet shy of where Inuyasha had stopped rolling, rising to his feet again. The sack burst open explosively as it hit the ground. A mist and fog rose from it, expanding outward rapidly. The fog engulfed Inuyasha, letting the others see only his shadow and hear his deep throated growling.

Miroku knelt over Sango and tentatively tried to take a hold of her. "I have to get you away from here…" his violet eyes skirted over her form and fear took hold of his face like a mask. There was no place to grab Sango. She was covered in grit, in wood shrapnel, and blood. Touching her in any way would only cause more pain and damage. He choked, feeling dread and grief trying to well up in his throat. "Sango…"

"Leave me." she ordered through gritted teeth.

"The mist is poisonous to humans." Miroku protested, touching her uninjured shoulder with one hand, and her cheek with the other. "I won't leave you here." He steeled himself for what he had to do, closing his eyes and drawing a deep, shaky breath. "Forgive me, love." He reached out and grasped a few of the wood projectiles sticking out of her and pulled them out.

Sango screamed through her gritted teeth, her hands clenched into fists, her eyes closed tightly. Miroku's own filled with tears as he tossed aside the first handful of shrapnel and reached for another. They fell as he tore them out and Sango's body snapped taut, her second scream was somehow worse than the first.

In the fog, Inuyasha was moving sluggishly, slashing blindly. His eyes were streaming, his breathing was shallow. Each step taken was wobblier than the last. Kilala circled overhead, yowling to distract him while Shippo peeked over her side, watching everything from his safe perch. "Miroku and Sango!" he pointed and tugged on Kilala's ear.

The fire cat landed beside them, her eyes were locked onto the rolling, thick fog. Inuyasha's shadow was still visible, lit by the sunlight streaming through the ruined canopy. It wavered, stumbled, and at last fell flat, disappearing. The sounds of his attacking the mist, the shadows projected onto it by his own crazed mind, disappeared. The mist kept spreading, expanding with the wind that still brought the stink of Naraku on it.

Shippo was shouting on her back, "Hurry Miroku!"

The monk took Sango into his arms, pressing his arms around the largest of her bleeding wounds, trying to staunch them. Blood spilled over his robes, over his hands. Sango was limp now, unconscious. He dragged her to Kilala and hefted her, as carefully as he could, onto the fire cat's back. He sheltered her against his chest as if she were a child. Blood dribbled onto Kilala's white fur.

As the fire cat leapt into the air and circled over the carnage below, escaping the poisonous mist, Shippo glanced back at the monk and the unconscious demon slayer. Miroku was holding Kilala's mane tightly with one hand and steadying Sango with the other. His face was grim and silent tears clouded his eyes, spilled down his face. They cleared pathways of clean, polished skin as they passed over his cheeks, washing away the grit from their battles.

The kit whimpered helplessly, feeling his own bruises from Kagome's strange attack aching him. Big tears formed in his eyes and he shed them unrestrainedly. He half-curled up onto Kilala's head, crying into her fur, filled with despair.

* * *

Lady Kaede sat outside of her ruined hut, squinting her single eye through the sunlight. Her hands, as yet unwashed from Shippo's frantic visit demanding something that would put Inuyasha to sleep to stop his madness, were still full of the mixed herbs she'd used. One sleeve was gone as well, given up to the same cause, cut away by a frantic monk.

Minutes had passed since they'd left to rescue Sango and stop Inuyasha, but to Kaede they felt like years. An entire winter, spring, and summer had passed over and she had been left sitting still, waiting for their return or their failure. Her bones ached anew with the oncoming of wintertime, with the approach of the fall rains, bitter and cold and cleansing.

At last she heard the ripping, roaring sound of Kilala's fiery feet as she flew by overhead and circled, landing in front of the hut and the waiting priestess. Kaede opened her eye slowly, refusing to feel either hope or dread. What she saw wasn't cause for celebration, but she suspected that none of them had died, which was in itself, only a little bit of good news. A wound could still kill, as could disease or fever or the herbs she'd mixed to restrain Inuyasha.

Miroku came first, carrying Sango swiftly forward, clutched in his embrace like a sleeping child. But Kaede's single eye was still sharp; she caught the blood over Kilala's fur and staining the monk's robes a dark, evil black. Kilala walked forward after him, Shippo perched on her head and sobbing, and laid out over her back was a red clothed shape, trailing a mane whiter than Kilala's own cream fur.

"Lady Kaede." Miroku murmured, his voice was thick, his eyes red rimmed.

The old priestess nodded, "Take her inside, I will only be a moment."

The monk nodded and walked past her for the hut. He moved as one carrying a fragile, priceless treasure. To think, Kaede thought, that the demon slayer could ever doubt the foolish monk's love for her…

She heaved herself up from the ground and approached the fire cat. From inside her sleeve she produced a necklace strung together with delicate bird bones and riddled with teeth from the centipede demon that the others had slain only minutes before. She held it out to Shippo. "You must place this around Inuyasha's neck, child."

The kit was crying softly, but now he lifted his green eyes to her perplexedly. "But, Lady Kaede, he already has one…"

"This one will be under your control, child. It will be the only way to keep him here. I have altered the spell to clear his mind of emotion and to dull his youkai half." She held it out to the kit in shaking hands and watched as Shippo sniffled and cautiously took the thing, handling the brittle necklace as if it might bite him.

Kaede reached out and grabbed the hanyou's arms, pulling him from Kilala's back and lying him flat. She knelt, groaningly, at his head and laid her ear to his lips, listening. When she pushed herself upright again she nodded and gestured to Shippo. "Now, child. While he sleeps…"

Shippo leapt from Kilala's head and hurried forward on all fours, only keeping one hand held up with the necklace dangling from it. He reached Inuyasha's head and, as Kaede lifted the hanyou's head up, he slipped it around his neck with shaking, quaking hands. As Kaede let Inuyasha's head lay flat once more, she said, "You must choose the command now—make it one you will say frequently. He will need the spell often."

Shippo had begun to cry again, whimpering. He stared down at the hanyou who had so often chased him, teased him, and bopped him over the head. It was easy to choose. "Stop." He muttered thickly, through his tears. "Stop, Inuyasha."

The new necklace lit up, glowing white. As the spell activated, Inuyasha's dog ears quivered, shrinking and spurting a tan, flesh toned color briefly and then returning to normal size and color. His body shuddered and then he released a long sigh, his body relaxing.

Kaede nodded. "You have done well, child." she heaved herself up from her knees, groaning again with the effort. "Watch him." With that she turned and began walking to the hut, ready to attend Sango's wounds and Miroku's heartache.

* * *

And I am done! 


	36. Captivity

A/N: wow…working, no time…same old same old. I'm sorry for the delay in this story with its updates. It's nearing completion, and I'm feeling delicate with it, gotta do it right…

I am not entirely sure about the direction I've taken here. I think it's going to work, but I'm worried I'm OOC a bit. Maybe not, I'm hoping maybe not. My fear is Miroku really; I can't see him leaving Sango while she's injured. When it comes down to it, what's more important? Their revenge against Naraku for all the crap he's done, or is it one another? I don't know, just, here goes I guess, I hope you enjoy and approve.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own anybody.

* * *

Last Chapter: Kagome was taken away by Naraku after she woke and attacked Shippo. Her eyesight is wacky, she hears "Inuyasha" in her mind through her link. I'm sure by now you've all guessed it's actually Naraku. Naraku is startled by his own feeling for Kagome. Since she ingested, as a matter of speaking, Kikyo's soul, she now attracts him as Kikyo did. Inuyasha went on a rampage, ready to chase after Naraku and Kagome alone. Sango worked to stall him, being severely injured in the act. Miroku and Shippo brought a sort of smoke bomb to put Inuyasha out of commission and rescue Sango. Kaede placed a second spell on Inuyasha, letting Shippo be in control of this one. The keyword he chose was, "Stop." Mrs. H was speaking to Shippo's oldest son Shinku, but they stopped in favor of resting through the night. Mrs. H doesn't trust Shinku.

* * *

**Captivity**

Early the next morning I found myself blearily being escorted back to our family shrine with Shinku, by way of a taxi. The tallest buildings of Tokyo rose around us, closing me in. Shinku negotiated the ride and paid for the ride. I was so fatigued and overwhelmed—as well as irritated with him—that I made no objections and didn't offer to help in the slightest.

When I'd woken that morning, Shinku had taken away the photo album of the Tetsusaigas. When I asked him if I could take it with me, Shinku laughed at me. "You got to look at it last night, Lady Higurashi, wasn't that enough?"

I hadn't really spoken since then. I stared out the window and watched the skyscrapers pass us by. The traffic was slow, crawling. This was the early morning rush hour. Shinku at my side fidgeted, leaning over many times to peek at the clock at the front of the taxi through the bulletproof, clear plastic shielding. His nearness when he did this annoyed me. My muscles were stiffened; I could feel my lips pinching together with frustration.

I just wanted to go home…

Shinku at last took notice of my irritation, or at least choose that moment to verbally react to it. He pulled back after looking at the clock and fixed me with a mischievous glare. "You're angry with me." it wasn't a question, he knew this as fact.

I didn't bother trying to hide my emotions, and I decided that speaking to him wasn't really worth the effort. I nodded, murmured an apology, and turned back to face the window and the sprawling heights of Tokyo beyond it. Businessmen crossed the sidewalks, chatting on cell phones, a few older men and women strolled through the shops. An occasional bicyclist sped through the traffic, weaving through the lanes and between cars.

"You're angry I didn't let you keep the photo album, aren't you?" Shinku asked, and I was certain I heard amusement in his voice.

"They are my family." I murmured without turning away from the window of the taxi. The glass was dirty, smudged by innumerable passengers' fingerprints. I could barely make out my own face, my pale lips and cheeks, the lines framing my mouth from years of smiling and frowning alike. Had those wrinkles really grown so much? I scarcely afforded myself time for vanity since my husband died. There were children to raise, a shrine to keep.

"I know." Shinku replied, still sounding cheery. I felt the growing desire to smack him or to shout. My daughter had the hanyou wrapped around her finger that way, he respected her temper—something I never saw of Kagome myself. But that temper had probably come from me, once upon a time…Shinku's next words drew me out of my reverie suddenly: "You'll see them soon enough."

I turned away from the window. "What?"

The fox demon was smirking, grinning wide enough that I could see the gleam of his fangs. Nervously, I glanced at the driver, but he was absorbed with the traffic. He wouldn't see Shinku's fangs, wouldn't be tipped to the fact that only half of his passengers this early morning were human.

Shinku lifted one hand, gesturing out the window. "Look."

Frowning, I turned to stare back at the streets of Tokyo—and felt my heart stop.

A short distance ahead, waiting at the crosswalk, I spotted a young woman with bright, shining white hair. My mouth dropped open and stayed that way even as I heard Shinku chuckling at my side.

"All this time you were sitting there thinking that I was going to take you home and never tell you a thing, Lady Higurashi." Shinku's voice lowered to avoid being overheard by our driver, "You humans have so little faith. Sometimes even less than the youkai."

I spoke as if I hadn't heard him at all. "Who is she?" I pointed frantically at the woman waiting at the crosswalk. She had long hair, reaching down into the middle of her back. It was free flowing, moving with the gentle breeze that the cars created as they passed by. I strained my eyes, trying to see her face, trying to recognize something of my Kagome in her if it was there.

"That is…" Shinku leaned across my lap, trying to see out my side of the taxi. This time I tolerated his closeness easily. "Your youngest granddaughter."

My mouth was still hanging open. I had no way of knowing what this woman's date of birth was, but if she were human, I would've guessed she was only born in the early 1980's. She couldn't have been much over thirty years old.

The light changed and the taxi crawled forward as the traffic allowed. We passed this woman—my youngest granddaughter?—slowly. I saw that her face was clear and unlined; her skin had a healthy honeyed glow to it. Her clothing was very much modern, a V-necked shirt covered in glitter and blue jeans. Her hair was so bright, but unlike Inuyasha's I guessed that she had hair more like Kagome's, light and flyaway. Her eyes could've been any color, I didn't catch it clearly.

"Her hair…" I shook my head and craned my neck, still trying to watch for her. "Why haven't I seen that before?" I demanded. If the Tetsusaigas were everywhere, working and living in Tokyo all around me, why hadn't I begun to notice it a lot sooner? Was I really so unobservant or blind?

"You weren't looking, Lady Higurashi." Shinku replied; his voice had grown softer, which made me look at him cautiously. His green-blue eyes were amused, but in a gentle, non-threatening way. When he spoke again it was in a hushed whisper, "You have the gift to see us, but only when _you_ are looking for it, or when _we_ allow you to see it."

I shook my head helplessly. "Why won't they see me?" my limbs felt weak, my head was spinning and dizzied from what I'd just seen. "I would never hurt my own family…" I covered my face with my hands when I felt the first tears try to roll out of my eyes. I'd thought I'd cried all that I could the previous nights, and in years long past, but apparently my grief was like the well on our shrine was at one time: bottomless.

"The Taishita forbade it." Shinku spoke formally, with a cold, distant tone.

"But I am family! Souta and I…" _Gramps, Toshi, my mother…the entire human Higurashi family…_

Shinku's lips were pressed tightly together. "He has a reason."

"What reason?" I was almost shouting, and when I heard my own voice and saw Shinku shrink, cringingly away from me, I covered my mouth with one hand, trying to start over. The driver glanced back at us, but said nothing. I caught his dark, hooded eyes in the rearview mirror staring at us. When I spoke again it was whispered. "How can Sesshomaru—the great Sesshomaru that my daughter talked about—how can he be afraid of Souta and I? How can he be afraid of our family? Kagome became _his_ family too!"

"He isn't afraid if the Higurashi family." Shinku muttered, frowningly. "It's _you_."

"_Me?"_ I choked. I remembered the stories that Kagome told of Sesshomaru. A dog the size of the skyscrapers Shinku and I were passing. A cold, unemotional warrior of sorts, the son of a great, legendary general, wielding limitless power…he was afraid of _me?_

Shinku shook his head. "He respects humans; we keep ourselves secret from all of you, more so now that before because of World War II. I explained all of that to you last night. But with you…" he paused and his words fell away, leaving only a small, frozen smirk on his face. I realized, slowly, that he wasn't going to tell me.

The taxi turned, throwing me toward Shinku. I let gravity do its work, pushing me into Shinku's personal space—if he had any as a youkai anyway—and I snatched his arm tightly with both hands. _"Why won't you tell me?"_ so many riddles, going in circles, I wasn't sure how much more I could take without going mad.

Shinku was grinning. "You'll see when you get to the Higurashi shrine, my lady."

"Stop running me around in circles!" I was shouting again, the driver grunted, clearing his throat, and I caught his glare through the rearview mirror.

Shinku was still grinning, and I thought I detected amusement in his green-blue eyes. He whispered, _"I am a fox. What did you expect?"_

* * *

Miroku waited on Sango through the day and the night. He slept sitting up, like Inuyasha, only a few feet from her. He had only withdrawn from her to relieve himself and to move Inuyasha inside the ruined hut. Now the hanyou slept peacefully on the other side of the room.

In the night that peace fell apart. Miroku and Shippo woke to the sound of the hanyou's growls. He was jerking violently in the bed, as if going through a seizure. Miroku rose stiffly from his position, his joints snapping and popping as he moved, and used the end of his staff to stir up the coals left in the fire. They blazed into life, throwing light so that the monk could see.

Shippo, sleeping curled up at Inuyasha's feet, had already taken up a readied position near Miroku and the fire. "He's waking up…" the kit was shivering violently.

"Lady Kaede assured us that the spell will restrain him, Shippo. Don't be afraid." But despite his words, Miroku was holding his staff in a defensive position, as if they were about to battle a demon.

Shippo gulped and waited, eyes glued to Inuyasha's thrashing form.

At last the hanyou went still and sat up in the bed. They heard his claws rasping over the wood at either side, heard his knuckles popping as he cracked them. His eyes glowed green-gold with the firelight when he opened them and looked around. His growl started up, thick and raspy. His canines gleamed brightly.

"Shippo…" Miroku prodded the terrified kit.

"Stop, Inuyasha!" Shippo whimpered, clinging to the monk's leg and crying hopelessly. In his mind nothing but Kagome could restrain the terrible hanyou and his god-like strength. He was as unstoppable as Naraku. Shippo fancied himself a pathetic replacement for the young miko.

But as soon as he spoke the word, the necklace lit up brightly, lighting Inuyasha's face clearly for a split second. The hanyou winced and fell backward, his body tensing. And then he sighed again, relaxing as the spell took hold of him. After a moment of stillness, Inuyasha sat up, groaning thickly and touching his head, his ears, with one hand.

"Inuyasha?" Miroku called, hesitantly. He was still holding his staff up and outward, ready to fight to protect himself, Shippo, and most importantly, the unconscious Sango behind him.

The hanyou glanced up at his name and grimaced, shielding his eyes from the fire with one hand. "Miroku?" he murmured, answering.

Shippo's shaking had turned into an excited shivering. "It worked!"

Inuyasha got to his feet, stumbling weakly. He appeared to have gained control of his legs for a second and lifted his golden eyes to stare between Miroku and Shippo blankly. "What's going on?" he asked in a strange, hollow tone.

Miroku lowered his staff slowly, pursing his lips. "What do you remember, Inuyasha?"

The hanyou looked as if he were about to answer, but then gravity seemed to reassert itself on him and he stumbled to one side, falling flat. He grunted, getting to his feet again gradually and with effort, as if his limbs weighed heavily on him and had turned to lead while he slept. "I…" he stammered, using the bed on its elevated wooden platform as a support while he talked. "I don't…"

They watched as he closed his eyes, as his chest heaved. When he opened his eyes again his face was a confused scowl. He shook his head, "Where's Kagome?"

There was a pause as both Miroku and Shippo hesitated, unwilling to answer this question. They weren't certain how Kaede's spell worked. Was it possible that it wiped Inuyasha's mind and emotions, sending him into the past? Would they have to hide Kagome's absence every time the spell was invoked?

"Naraku took her." Miroku finally responded, tensely. His staff was lifted upward, preparing for a fight.

The hanyou stumbled backward at the monk's words, shaking his head as if there was water in his ears. "Naraku?" he asked, quietly. "Why don't I remember?" he glanced up at them, perplexed. His eyes were dull.

The reaction was different. Miroku sighed as he realized the nature of Kaede's spell at last. It dulled Inuyasha's emotions, effectively changing him and making him levelheaded. It wasn't working completely; Inuyasha was still Inuyasha underneath the spell. That was obvious in his fast, rough breathing. In the spastic flexing of his hands. His body was trying to react wildly, trying to go on a rampage for his mate, but his brain was not allowed to process the news the same way, which effectively dammed up his normal responses, muting them.

"We have to go after her." Inuyasha's voice had grown stronger now, with rising urgency. He pushed himself up but wobbled dangerously and then fell back onto the floor. He shook his head, frowningly. "Why am I so weak?" he touched his head, closing his eyes, and then blurted, "Where's the link?"

"Your link to Kagome is missing?" Miroku asked, alarmed.

Inuyasha shook his head, still frowning. "She's there but…" his ears dropped pathetically. "She can't hear me; I can barely hear her…"

"It must be Naraku's doing." Miroku murmured, backing away from Inuyasha and moving to kneel at Sango's bedside again. He assumed a praying position and closed his eyes. Shippo stayed on the floor, still shivering with both fear and excitement.

Inuyasha had watched Miroku move to Sango's side. His face remained blank as he took in Sango's sleeping form and the monk's new position of prayer. "Hey," he called quietly, "Miroku—we have to go after Kagome…"

"We are strongest when we are whole, Inuyasha." Miroku replied, patiently. "Naraku will not kill Kagome; it would make no sense for him to harm her. He needs her ability to see the shards of the Sacred Jewel. Right now he is waiting for _you_ to come after her. We will do so when Sango is well."

The hanyou's face twisted with sudden, ferocious anger. "I ain't waiting for anything!" his knuckles snapped, his claws raked across the wood of the floor. The hanyou was on his feet without wobbling at all. He moved toward the door, stiff and lowered into a crouch.

"Stop, Inuyasha!" Shippo shouted, rushing forward to block Inuyasha's path.

Inuyasha seemingly obeyed. He stumbled backward, gasping as the necklace of bird bones lit up around his neck. He reached out with shaking fingers for his head as his ears shot through with pain, shrinking and changing shape before resuming their normal state. He continued to shake with pain as the spell asserted itself over him. Then, groaning, he lifted his eyes and looked around the room with confusion.

"What is this thing…?" he picked at the necklace, sniffing at it.

"It stops you from running away." Shippo answered simply. "Like when Ka…" he stopped short, uncertain whether it was wise to remind the hanyou of his missing mate just yet.

Inuyasha was staring at the floor blandly. "You want me to stay here and wait for Sango to get better?" his ears were turned backward, but his face was calm.

No one answered him, and after a moment Inuyasha answered himself, saying, "That will take weeks."

Miroku dropped his chin to his chest, squeezing his eyes tightly shut but saying nothing. Sango had been badly injured. Her left side was riddled with wounds, any one of which might become infected and kill her. Internally she had yet to recover from Inuyasha's other accidental attack on her. Miroku's greatest fear was that he would leave her side to rescue Kagome with Inuyasha, Kilala, and Shippo, only to return and discover that Sango had died. Worse still was to die in the battle with Naraku and leave Sango to wake alone, without any of them to help her fight Naraku for her little brother, for her ruined, destroyed family and village…

He was torn in two. On one side there was Kagome, trapped in Naraku's clutches. It was vital that they rescue her. But on the other Miroku could see the fracture developing between Inuyasha's desperation for his mate, for his child, and his own hidden fears for he and Sango. Defeating Naraku had meant that they would marry and start a family of their own, but he was haunted by the idea that one of them would die before the battle or in it, leaving the other alone. And what of dying before they had known one another intimately? Inuyasha and Kagome hadn't waited. Caution and reserve were tossed to the wind. Miroku found it foolish on one hand, and on the other he envied them.

If they died at least that would've known some measure of happiness inside the arms of the other…

"I can't wait." Inuyasha announced, still calm, though his ears were quivering and his hands were clenching and unclenching.

"I know." Miroku answered him at last, eyes still tightly closed. "I can't leave her." he would feel no bitterness, he told himself, that it was Inuyasha that had nearly killed Sango this time. Bitterness was unbecoming, and the hanyou was unable to control himself…

But that internal dialogue was flawed because Miroku was human, he was not close to enlightenment, he was far from perfect—and because he _was bitter._ Inuyasha had nearly killed Sango, his recklessness, his loss of control had done nothing but play into Naraku's hands, and it had nearly killed brave Sango…might _still_ kill her…

"I'm not asking you to." Inuyasha replied, hoarsely. "I'll go alone."

Miroku looked up as the hanyou rose to his feet, "No, Inuyasha—you must take Shippo and Kilala with you."

Inuyasha and Miroku gazed at one another, tensely, both determined. And then, Inuyasha nodded once, shoulders sagging a little. "Fine then." He took a step forward and then paused, looking back at Miroku and Sango with what appeared to be open sadness, regret perhaps. "Miroku…" the monk looked up at him, "When she wakes up—tell her I'm sorry…"

Miroku tried to smile but found that his facial muscles were quivering, unable to perform the task he set to them. In the end he nodded. "I will. Good luck Inuyasha."

The hanyou slipped out of the hut, Shippo and Kilala hurried after him.

* * *

_I'm coming for you…_

Kagome jolted awake, breathing harshly, almost choking. The world was dark around her, night seemed to have fallen. Her senses filtered into her now conscious mind, telling her that not all was well here. The room smelled less of earth than it did of old, musty tatami matting, less of wood and straw and more of a sour, wet stink. Kagome's stomach did flip flops at it. She listened with everything she had, praying that she would hear the faint, steady breathing of her companions—but there was nothing.

Tentatively, Kagome started to sit up, but dizziness swarmed in her head. She collapsed, groaning and trying to steady her breathing. As the discomfort passed, Kagome tried to access her link with Inuyasha, hoping he would explain things, comfort her. _Inuyasha?_

The space in her mind was sluggish, slow to respond. And then: _Kagome, you're awake?_

She nodded physically, though the motion hurt and Inuyasha could never see it. _I don't know where I am. What's going on? I can't remember anything…_

_It's the middle of the night, you're still sick. I'm coming…_

Kagome blinked through the blackness, searching it, and listening carefully with her mind. The link was different than what she remembered before the new moon. Inuyasha was silent except for when he spoke to her, and his emotions flowed across in a stunted way. It was as if they were passing through a screen, like a spaghetti strainer. Something was missing, something was wrong.

Footsteps thumped over the floor. Kagome felt them and turned onto her side to try and see Inuyasha coming. Her hands, moving out into the dark around her, felt cold flooring. Cold and dirty. Pieces of grit brushed her fingertips. She was lying on a mat of some kind; the rest of the floor was different, made for walking. This wasn't Kaede's hut.

A door slid open, rattling along its track. Kagome blinked furiously, but although she could make out the bright red of Inuyasha's haori and hakama, as well as the lightness of his long, flowing hair, there was no detail to it. She made a small sound, whimpering. "I can't see…"

"You're sick." Inuyasha told her—and it was his voice. Without realizing it, Kagome let out a small sigh of relief. She watched him come and kneel at her side, felt his hand reach out and touch her hair gently.

"What happened to me? I can't remember…" that wasn't entirely true. She recalled being attacked by a lizard, and following Kaede up a hill while Inuyasha and the others fought a monster. Yet those memories were flawed somehow, and Kagome stopped, trying to focus her thoughts on discerning whether those memories were from a dream or from reality. Nothing was clear in her brain; the entire world was foggy or fuzzy, like shrouding mist on a lake covering the rocks that would sink a boat.

"The lizard that bit you, it was poisonous." Inuyasha told her, calmly. Too calmly. Where were the curses? His hand stroked her hair tenderly, but it stayed there, not moving to her neck, shoulders, or her face.

Kagome shook her head, dislodging his hand a little. "I don't feel terribly sick…" she stopped as the thought of poison struck her with a new worry. "The baby." she gasped and tried to sit up to look at Inuyasha's face. "How bad was the poison?"

"Kaede treated you while you slept." He was smiling at her; one clawed hand had her chin, helping hold her upright against the waves of dizziness that assaulted her. "It will get better soon." Through the link he shoved calming emotions at her and answered her question about the baby. _Kaede thought the baby would be fine._

Although Kagome tried to fight it, she felt a growing sense of _wrongness._ Inuyasha spoke with his own voice, but the words didn't feel quite like his. There wasn't the same emotion behind most of what he said aloud or through the link. His words were too well enunciated, and even the specific terms he used were wrong. Had Inuyasha ever referred to their child as anything but a pup?

He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, tenderly. Kagome stiffened for a moment, but then she felt the link expanding slightly. Through it spilled Inuyasha's longing and love. _The poison makes you doubt me. Please, Kagome…_

His hands dropped lower, one rested on her shoulder; the other cradled her neck, bringing her further into his hold. His kiss deepened, his tongue slid into her mouth. Part of Kagome balked, recalling that Inuyasha was often frugal with kisses to her mouth. He was more likely to skip to her neck, her shoulders—unless she caught him and kept him locked in the kiss.

Something was wrong—but though Kagome recognized this, she hesitated. Some of it was denial, and some of it was shock. Kagome's body was reacting strongly to "Inuyasha." Heat rose inside her, strength filtered into her limbs, but the energy was accompanied by a sense of desperation. Longing swamped her mind, confusing her. Before she knew what she'd done, Kagome had wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him closer.

Inuyasha made a low sound in his throat, almost a chuckling, but Kagome felt a rush of alarm. The chuckling was not in Inuyasha's voice, it was too smooth, too deep. She fought to move her hands, to try and push him away, but Inuyasha ignored her attempt and scooted closer, pressing his weight against her. The support of his arms vanished and Kagome fell backward onto the matting that she'd been sleeping on.

Inuyasha was on her before she could attempt to move anywhere. His clawed hands pinned her wrists, Kagome whimpered when she felt those talons bite a little into her flesh. Desire still clouded her mind, but through it Kagome knew without a doubt that this was _not_ Inuyasha. The desire tormenting her was unnatural. It was as if her body and her conscious mind had been split from one another. The false Inuyasha was trying to manipulate her mind by using her body, but he couldn't convince her.

She touched the link and found that it was closed off, numb. Tears began to prickle in her eyes as she pulled against the false Inuyasha, whimpering. "Let go of me…"

Inuyasha crooked his head above her, as if confused by her reaction. Kagome felt the link swarm open again. Concern poured through it. _What's wrong?_

Kagome was breathing hard; her stomach was beginning to cramp up. Something burned on her chest. She shook her head and pulled against his hands again. "Let go…Inuyasha…"

The creature above her smiled slowly. His lips barely turned, but Kagome saw, for the first time, the flecks of red inside his otherwise handsome amber irises. The room around her began to clear, as if a match had been struck. Moonlight, thick and milky, was passing through screens on one side of the room. Ink drawings covered the screens—a spider in its dewy web.

_Spider…_

Horror dawned fast inside Kagome, intensifying her nausea. Her chest convulsed, she choked and sobbed at once. "Naraku…" her body was shaking, quivering with both Kagome's sudden revulsion and the foreign desire that the false Inuyasha had forced on her.

The false Inuyasha smiled in earnest now, but his fangs were gone. The white dog ears were clearly transparent and fading. "For this encounter, miko," he smirked, "I believe you can call me Onigumo."

He leaned forward—his hair melted into a deep, dark black, his eyes flickered into a red like blood, his face transformed—and he smashed his lips to hers, stifling her cries.

* * *

Kilala wheeled through the sky, tiny Shippo perched on her head, peering down. He held onto her ears as if they were handles, the fire cat bore it stoically. Her first concern was trailing the flash of red haori through the trees. Her fastest speed was only a fraction faster than what Inuyasha could manage leaping through the trees, especially with Shippo on her back, Kilala was limited.

A flock of sparrow-like birds took off, cheeping in alarm as the hanyou disturbed their tree. In the dark of the night they flew blindly, sleepily, driven only by the wild fear of something as massive and predatory as Inuyasha coming after them. The hanyou paid them no mind at all, just leapt to the next tree in reach.

"How can Miroku be sure Naraku won't hurt Kagome!" Shippo was shouting to the wind. Through their flight following Inuyasha the kit had gone through bouts of grieving for the miko that had become his mother over the years. "He's a monster!" the kit started sobbing hysterically again, big fat, salty tears pouring onto Kilala's head, running into her own eyes.

The fire cat rumbled a little with sympathy as she blinked away the kit's spilled tears. She turned slightly, following the wind as it hit her, bringing the stink of Naraku clearly with it. Below her the flash of red in the trees did the same, adjusting his path.

But then Kilala heard the sound of tree branches breaking, wood splintering somewhere below. She paused, circling like a vulture and eyeing the forest. Shippo's sobbing faded into whimpering as he too came to attention. "What's going on, Kilala?"

A scream echoed through the trees and up to them, sounding like a wounded, dying animal. Though Kilala and Shippo couldn't know it, Naraku had begun his seduction of Kagome, wearing Inuyasha's form. The real Inuyasha was picking up the events as Naraku allowed them to slip into his mind through his one-way connection to Kagome. And, as Naraku had planned, it was driving the real hanyou mad.

Shippo yelped and slid down Kilala's neck, trying to hide in her thick mane. "What happens if Naraku kills Kagome, Kilala?" he choked, shaking violently. "What will we do without her?"

Kilala exhaled loudly, half-growling. Her eyes were glued to the forest, waiting for the hanyou to move again. It didn't take very long. Inuyasha began rushing toward Naraku's scent on the wind once more, but this time he wasn't using the branches. He wasn't leaping at all. His pace had slowed because he was maddeningly attacking the trees as he passed them. In his tormented mind, every one of them was Naraku, looming large and laughing at him.

The link played Kagome's sensations, the desire that she felt but knew wasn't natural, the growing trepidation and suspicion that the creature with her physically and inside her mind wasn't really Inuyasha. The true Inuyasha screamed for her, shouting and cursing, but Kagome heard none of it, and aloud his "words" were slurred howls and snarls. Not even her name when he called it was intelligible.

Breathing thickly, Kilala descended sharply, slipping her way into the trees. Shippo crawled nervously on her back, trying to peek over and spot Inuyasha.

The hanyou slashed at one of the trees, ripping its trunk out. Debris flew around him, splinters stuck inside his haori and hakama as well as in his hair and flesh. Inuyasha ignored the pain and the blood; he was trapped inside his mind, suffering invisibly alongside his mate.

Shippo hopped onto Kilala's head and, in a wobbly voice, shouted, "Stop, Inuyasha!"

The bones around the hanyou's neck lit up and in the same instant Inuyasha's knees trembled and collapsed underneath him. He regained his strength quickly, backing away from the tree, shaking his head furiously. When he spoke now it was clear but filled with a growling rage that made his voice lower and quake.

"_That bastard! That fucking…"_ the tremor in his voice increased, _"He's going to…to…" _but even with the spell in place it was impossible for him to utter the next word. Without glancing at Kilala and Shippo, he leapt into the trees and began leaping away.

Kilala ascended again, following Inuyasha and Naraku's stink. On her back Shippo was sobbing again. "He's going to kill Kagome and Inuyasha's lost his mind!" the kit buried his face in Kilala's mane and blubbered hopelessly.

* * *

The wind rose up, passing through the meadow forcefully, rippling the wildflowers. Jaken had dropped his staff and was digging determinedly in the dirt. He'd already uprooted numerous flowers and other plants, low-lying shrubs mostly, and as the wind pushed the wildflowers around him downwards they tickled Jaken's nose. The toad shook his head snuffling.

"Stupid flowers." He grumbled and focused back on his task carefully. His three claws were coated with rich, black dirt. He squinted his eyes, concentrating. He had never had the best vision. His eyes were massive, round things in his head, like little dishes that would likely fit his own grubby clawed hands perfectly—but for all their size, Jaken had very poor vision when it came to detail.

He was searching for good, edible insects. His favorites were earthworms, centipedes, and pill bugs. Tonight it was too chilly and too dry for the earthworms, but the pill bugs were out, and they were sluggish. A spider slipped from one of the wildflowers nearby. It was largish and hairy, and the cold night air made it sluggish. Jaken caught it by the abdomen and squealed with delight.

He should've been paying more attention to the unusualness of the wind, the way it had changed direction and strength…and the stink it carried with it. But the toad hadn't eaten properly in weeks, and he took this opportunity to snatch a quick snack while Rin slept, curled up against AhUn and while Sesshomaru had wandered off again going who knew where.

The toad popped the squirming spider into his mouth and squished it between his gums, squeezing his eyes closed in delight. "Mmmm…"

A footstep pressed the grasses and wildflowers down next to him and Jaken leapt at once to attention. His nose told him before his eyes did that this was Lord Sesshomaru, back from wherever he'd been. "Lord Sesshomaru!" he shrieked, bowing at the inuyoukai's feet.

"Did you notice the wind, Jaken?" Sesshomaru asked, distantly.

Jaken gulped and peeked up at his master uncertainly. "The wind, my lord?"

Sesshomaru was no longer looking at him, if he'd ever been looking at him that was; instead his attention was seemingly pointed at the sky. He stared at the stars impassively. If Jaken's eyes had been a little sharper, he would've seen the inuyoukai's gaze narrow slightly. The wind passed through his long, brilliant hair. Sesshomaru closed his eyes for a moment, breathing once deeply.

_Naraku…_

The scent had never been so strong, so _obvious._ It felt wrong, like a trap.

Nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the last few months, although Rin was beginning to trouble him. She was growing like a weed, already she was several hand-widths taller than Jaken and outgrowing the latest clothes he'd acquired for her. She'd attracted a few too many human male eyes for his tastes lately—she was reaching puberty and he needed to find her a proper home. Naraku had taken the girl from him once, and there had been other attempts on occasion. Could this be an attempt to lead him away from her?

The scent was too clear, too easy for his nose to follow.

Jaken had picked it up at last. "Oh! Lord Sesshomaru! I think that smell on the wind—it's that evil Naraku! Do you smell it too, my lord?"

Sesshomaru ignored him, still working out likelihoods of Naraku's plot in his mind. The demon had made mistakes before, seemingly forgetting how many enemies he had. Naraku was always making new enemies, too. Uncountable youkai and humans alike had scores to settle with him. Setting his scent on the wind like this meant that Naraku had something to gain or…he had increased his power.

Over a year and a half ago Sesshomaru had been apart of a joint attack on Naraku. That attack had resulted in Naraku's near-death and, perhaps most importantly, his loss of the almost-complete Sacred Jewel. Sesshomaru had never cared much for the Jewel and the trouble it had caused; he preferred to gain power by his own merits. The Jewel now resided, as far as Sesshomaru knew, with the miko priestess that his brother fancied. Could it be that Naraku had regained the Jewel and his former power?

"Lord Sesshomaru?" Rin had woken; her voice was deep and scratchy with the sleep of moments before. Over the years her childish voice had grown and changed, deepening. She was caught between childhood and womanhood. There were things that would start happening to her soon that Sesshomaru couldn't help her with. She needed a mother—not just a protector and a pet toad.

It was impossible for Sesshomaru to ignore the tantalizing stink Naraku had left for him to follow—but leaving Rin with Jaken was also impossible. Jaken was a poor guardian, and Sesshomaru didn't want to lose Rin and also find reason to kill the toad.

"Jaken." He called, making the toad sit up as if a bee had stung him.

"Yes, my lord?" Jaken prostrated himself so low that the dirt clogged his nose and he had to stifle a sneeze.

"Take Rin to Mother and protect her there until I return."

Jaken made a small yelping sound. "Mother, my lord?" he stammered in his high pitched, panicky voice, "Forgive me! I don't know how to reach her!"

"Ah and Un will take you." Sesshomaru stepped forward, turning his back on the toad, the two-headed dragon, and his young ward. "Go."

Jaken prostrated himself again. "Yes, Lord Sesshomaru! Anything you say!" when he glanced up from his bowing, he choked with surprise—Sesshomaru was already gone, vanished completely from the meadow. "Well, he was certainly in a hurry!" he huffed, flicking the dirt from his grubby three-fingered hands.

Rin walked through the flowers toward him. "We should go, Jaken-sama, and do what Lord Sesshomaru says."

The toad grumbled at her irritably. "Of course we're going to do what he says! Stupid girl!" he waved his hands at her in a shooing motion. "Go to AhUn now! We're leaving!"

Rin smiled cheerily and nodded obediently. "Yes, Jaken-sama."

* * *

The girl certainly attracted him as Kikyo had. Her spirit was bright and powerful, and on some level that intimidated him, but he had hoped to keep her deceived by his false form a little longer. Unfortunately a rush of lust—as well as a bit of a power trip with the triumph of having duped the girl so thoroughly—had destroyed that.

The miko fought his touch now, crying and shouting. When he kissed her she bit his lip, tearing it enough that it bled profusely. His blood was not blood like Inuyasha would shed, it was red-black and foamed when it fell onto the miko's face and neck. It was tainted with miasma.

She screamed with real pain then, writhing desperately, trying to free her hands to wipe away the miasma-blood. More fat drops of it spilled out onto her kimono, burning and staining the fabric all at once.

The minor pain of her bite was inconsequential to Naraku, but the loss of his secrecy took a little of the enjoyment out of things. In truth he hadn't planned on abusing the miko in this way—though it was a fascinating way to torture both the girl and Inuyasha through her. He'd meant to come into the room and convince her to hand over the Jewel to him. Touching her while she slept to snatch it hadn't worked very well. Her soul repelled his evil. But when she'd woken and he'd stroked her hair, he'd felt her acceptance. Touching her and snatching the Jewel was suddenly possible, but so was seduction. The human weakness in him had taken over and complimented the dark, sadistic drive of the demon. Part of him longed to carry out the rape, but the demon in him saw nothing attractive in the girl any longer—just the Jewel. Her terror entertained him, but failed to arouse him.

It might've if the bitch didn't reek like Inuyasha—inside and out. It was the accursed offspring she was carrying.

He would deal with that later. For now it was her fear and the Jewel he needed.

Naraku let go of her wrists and slapped Kagome across the face, hard. She breathed raggedly with the pain of the blow; Naraku smelled her blood flowing freshly to the surface. He smiled viciously. "Give me the Jewel."

She didn't answer him. Her hips were still pinned underneath his own, but her upper body was free. She curled up pathetically, cradling her face and sobbing. A few drops of blood appeared through her fingers as her nose continued to bleed. Naraku snarled silently and reached out toward her chest. The Jewel was tucked inside her inner robe; he could see its purplish glow through the fabric of her kimono. His fingers prickled as they made contact with her skin. Was it the purified Jewel that repelled him, or the girl herself?

His fingers closed around the chain she wore and the tips began burning intensely. He withdrew, gritting his teeth behind tightly closed lips. "Little bitch…" he sneered in his smooth, liquid voice.

"Give it to me." he snatched at her hands roughly, but she twisted, fighting back. Naraku was stronger by far, but touching her now harmed him. When his fingers pulled clear of her after holding her a few seconds, they were reddened and raw, as if burnt.

The miko kicked with her legs and screamed for help. There were a few splotches of red where his miasma-blood had burned her, holes had been eaten into her kimono, her hair was wild and horribly messy. Adrenaline had given her the strength to fight him off through the dizziness and disorientation he'd inflicted on her by way of the link Eki had given him. But she still possessed her powerful soul, the soul that Kikyo had used to taunt him with for so many long years.

There was a way to circumnavigate her purity without killing her.

He snarled with frustration and made a quick decision. Grabbing a fistful of her hair, he pulled her head backward, cringing as her voice reached higher octaves with her panic. Her hands reached out, flying wildly, and one of them dug into his neck. Naraku inhaled once, sharply, at the shot of white hot pain her touch sent into his brain, then slammed her head to the floor. She shrieked with pain just once—her fingernails digging into the flesh of his neck tensed and dug in deeper, then an eye blink later her hand fell limply away. Her body sagged, her breathing stuttered.

Naraku moved from where he was straddling her and probed her head gently, pushing the long, light strands away from her face. Her eyes were flickering, rolling around in their sockets from the blow. Blood still trickled freely from her nose. She moaned weakly, her hands clenched and unclenched spastically.

"It would've been a lot easier if you had just given me the Jewel." He purred, smiling. Slowly, he reached toward the chain again, but when it touched his already burnt fingertips, Naraku pulled away. It was like touching fire. The Jewel had hung around the miko's neck too long. It was purified there and nearly whole. It was actually fighting him.

But the Jewel was only a reflection of its possessor. It could be tainted easily—even by the girl.

Naraku opened the link he shared with the girl, feeling the pain resounding inside her skull, the confusion and inflections of terror. Suffering and loss…he scanned her memories as best as he could with his link, and a small smile spread over his lips as he found just the perfect types of torture he could inflict on her. The perfect way to tempt the miko, the perfect way to darken her heart with grief and taint the Jewel.

He nudged her mind toward a few nightmares, lulled her into a heavy sleep, and slipped out of the room.

* * *

And I am finished for now. 


	37. Promises

A/N: Well, sorry it's been a while…got caught up with _Runaway_ and moving out of my house and starting college and everything else. Oh wah. My apologies…hope this helps a little. Battles and showdowns coming up, and those are always harder to write, I think, sorta. That has kind of also made me hesitate with this story…excuses excuses, eh? When I uploaded this FFnet had a small fit, telling me the first time that the document was empty, and I KNOW it wasn't, and low and behold, the second time I tried it worked. I don't know why it's so finicky. It does this to me a lot, sometimes repeatedly so that I can't update. So even tho that's not my fault, I apologize for that as well...retarded...

Disclaimer: Nope, I do not own any of them just about. Shinku is sorta mine though, in all his chain-smoking, smirking ways.

Last chapter: Early in the morning **Shinku** called a taxi and took Mrs. H home. On the way they spotted a woman…one of Mrs. H's granddaughters. Shinku informed her that Sesshomaru (the Taishita) forbade them from searching for Mrs. Higurashi, and Sesshomaru is, according to Shinku, afraid of Mrs. H. **Miroku** is waiting on Sango, torn between his love for her and the need for vengeance against Naraku and of course for rescuing Kagome. Shippo, with Kaede's help, placed a new restraining spell on Inuyasha. The command word is "Stop." It forces a small semblance of sanity into our raging hanyou. **Inuyasha**, Kilala, and Shippo left to track down Naraku on their own and rescue Kagome. **Naraku** tried to take the Jewel, but couldn't. He was also tempted sexually. **Sesshomaru** caught wind of Naraku and, after ordering Jaken and Rin to safety, headed out to track down Naraku and kill him, even though he feels it's a trap.

A/N: regarding Mrs. H in this chapter with the shrine, I know little of how an actual shrine is laid out, or of the exact practices. I know there are a lot of steps, a long path involved. I guessed, and I can't remember how the shrine looks exactly in the anime. It seems to me that the Higurashi family keeps records, artifacts, and takes care of the shrine itself. I know Shinto religion holds that there are spirits residing in physical things, animals, or in places that make it holy. Like the God Tree, but other than that my knowledge is limited. I guessed, I hope I don't offend anyone with my lack of knowledge, and I hope I'm not enormously off the mark. I also know nothing about weddings (where they take place anyway) in Japanese culture.

* * *

**Promises**

When the taxi reached the outside entrance to the shrine and rolled gradually to a stop, I felt a great heaviness descend on me, as if I'd gained thousands of pounds in the few seconds it took for us to stop. I turned in my seat and glanced at Shinku, trying to open my mouth to speak. I didn't want to leave him, I felt that if I did I'd never again reach their world, the youkai, hidden from me and yet right there for anyone to see. They were like caterpillars in a tree, camouflaged to look like leaves. I would never find them again when I left the taxi, when Shinku pushed me out of their world of secrets.

Shinku must've seen my feelings, but he didn't react with anything but a mirthless grin. I could see the gleam of his fangs, and the nothingness in his greenish eyes. "Why are you wearing that long face, Lady Higurashi?"

Even through my sadness, I could still manage to find anger when he teased me so mockingly like this. "You know why." I answered, bitterly.

"I know a lot of things—like you have a shrine to watch over, a son to take care of as I recall. And me? I have a date with a fine little vixen downtown at nine. With traffic, I might just make it if you get out now." he grinned and made a rude motion with his hands, one that I would only see, not the driver, telling me without words that there would be sex involved.

I wanted nothing more than to get out and leave him in that moment, yet at the same time, when I looked to the sidewalk beyond the taxi, I could remember my daughter walking her bike up to the metal gates…now it was empty, barren. Dazedly, I pushed open the taxi door and climbed out. No sooner had I slammed the door than Shinku had signaled to the driver that it was time to leave. The taxi rumbled lazily and rolled away slowly into the street beyond.

I stared after it, feeling that invisible weight pressing on my shoulders, lengthening my arms and shrinking my legs. Eventually I turned and entered the shrine, pushing open the gate, and moving along the little concrete path.

A few of our regular visitors were also on the path, moving slowly. This part of the walkway served more as a personal place for those coming to worship. Visitors paused and stepped from the path slightly to leave incense or small offerings near the trees or in the moss, or on the rocks. An old man I'd known for years, who visited three times a week for as long as I could recall, saw me approaching and smiled, bowing and murmuring my name in greeting.

I couldn't ignore him, it would be horribly rude, but everything inside me was heavy with grief and renewed loss. Despite it, I moved forward, smiling as best as I could.

"Hello, Mr. Kakyaku." I bowed to him.

Kakyaku smiled at me kindly, tight lipped but with a great warmth in his eyes. "Mrs. Higurashi." He made a small sighing sound and turned to look up the path and then back at the small bowl he'd left at his usual place, on some rounded, gray stones. Inside he had left a small stick of burning incense. The fragrance was light and calming. "I saw young Mr. Souta just a short time ago, searching for you."

"I will have to find him, thank you Mr. Kakyaku." I bowed again, excusing myself, and stepped away, following the path uphill. The bright red of the gate stood up ahead, beyond it would be our house and the God Tree. I started to climb the stairs, slowly, feeling heavy still.

Kagome had climbed these stairs everyday once. As a girl she'd been excited and dedicated to the shrine. She helped to repaint it and greet and welcome the visitors. If she had stayed with me, in our time together, Kagome would've become, technically, an apprentice to myself and Gramps. She would've inherited the shrine…

By the time I'd reached the top of the stairs and the gate there, I was sniffling back a few tears again, bitterly missing my Kagome. Souta's voice, grown deep with maturity, reached me. I glanced up and blinked with alarm.

Souta was calling to me, gesturing for me to join him eagerly. I noticed that he glanced backward, and his mouth moved, his face worked into a smile. He was speaking to someone, but I couldn't see them—they were around the other side of the God Tree, admiring the spot, probably, where an arrow tip had pinned the demon Inuyasha to the tree, as legend recorded it.

I regained my composure as best as I could as I moved toward my son hurriedly. I kept an eye on the God Tree and the person half-hidden behind it. I saw a foot sticking out, long and elegant and covered by tight, black leggings. A woman's leg, but I could hear the deep thrum of a male's voice as well.

"Souta?" I asked when we were within earshot. "What—"

"Mom!" my son hissed, reaching for me and enveloping me at once in a huge, warm, crushing hug. "Where were you last night?" he pushed backward and stared at me, searchingly.

"I saw Shippo." I whispered, feeling the sadness and the tears trying to threaten all over again. I was shaking. "I spoke with his son…"

Souta's eyes widened, he opened his mouth to respond, but at that moment the people behind the God Tree emerged. The man cleared his throat loudly, making Souta stiffen before me and pull instantly away.

"Taishita Fuishiken, Xun Rong-shuo," he called to the man and the woman stepping forward from behind the God Tree. I felt myself stop breathing when I realized that the surname of one of them was _Tiashita._ It couldn't be coincidence… "This is my mother, Higurashi Kira."

I stared at them as I bowed awkwardly. If I could've detached my head while my body bowed just to be able to watch them while I showed the necessary formality, I surely would've done it. The man, Taishita Fuishiken I assumed, was blurry in my eyes, unclear. His outline was indistinct around his face and hands. Looking at him from the front I saw a man dressed in a traditional, but casual men's kimono. His hair was short and tidy, his eyes handsome and almond-shaped. His face was long and well-shaped, clean-shaven. I saw a mole on his forehead, but when I blinked it would waver, changing positions, like a fluctuating computer screen. He was tall, narrow-bodied, and elegant. On the streets of Tokyo he would stand out as a beautiful specimen of masculinity, but he appeared completely human.

The woman, when I stared at her directly, was much the same as her companion. Her hair was in a loose ponytail, long and black and shining. Her face was rounder than the Taishita man, her lips thinner. When she smiled it was with a meekness I found endearing. Her teeth were slightly crooked, but like the man's mole on his forehead, it wavered, fluctuating in my vision. Like him, she wore a casual, traditional kimono, but with the tight black leggings underneath.

I knew without thinking about it why they seemed too ordinary, and yet were so indistinct. They were youkai. Whatever magic they used to disguise themselves from human beings on a daily basis, they were using it before me now, but I was _trying_ to see beyond it. I possessed some spiritual power, as Kagome did, which was why I was immune to the kitsune magic, and why I could see through their disguise.

"Pleased to meet you." Fuishiken extended his hand after he had bowed and I accepted it tentatively. "I've come to ask if you can perform a Shinto wedding for my fiancée and I." he gestured at the timid woman at his side and she smiled, murmuring agreement in accented Japanese. From her name I guessed that she was from China.

"My father often performed them," I answered, frowning inwardly at the shakiness of my voice, "But although I am the caretaker of this shrine, I'm afraid traditionally a woman isn't permitted to perform a binding ceremony." (A/N: I have no idea if that's true, but I'm guessing it probably was.)

At our side Souta was watching Fuishiken and his fiancée, but I couldn't tell what was passing through his head. Had he, like Kagome, inherited spiritual power? Had he picked up on the fact that these weren't human beings, they were youkai?

"We would very much like you to perform the ceremony, Mrs. Higurashi." Fuishiken insisted, smiling. The smile was removed, a little cold.

His fiancée was nodding. "The Higurashi shrine is where we want to be married." Her accent was there, but faint, her pronunciation and grammar was correct. She was either very sharp with languages, or she'd had a very long time to perfect it. I recalled Shippo and his wife, Cher. Were all youkai capable of learning and mastering multiple languages?

"If you're willing, than I will gladly perform the ceremony." I told them, bowing again. "You need only plan a date. We will arrange for the traditional kimono to be provided from our storehouse—"

"That will not be required." Fuishiken told me, still wearing his distant, polite smile. "My family owns our own traditional kimono that we will provide for the ceremony."

"Mine as well." his fiancée added, smiling alongside him, like a mirror image but shorter and bubblier.

"Then all we will need is a date." I gazed at them out of the corner of my eye, trying to see completely through their outer disguises, to see how they really looked.

The man, stripped of his disguise, was beautiful; his face was sculpted, handsome. There was no mole on his forehead, no blemishes at all. And over his cheeks I saw two faint streaks of color, red-purple like the colors from a brilliant sunset. His eyes weren't a typical brown, but instead they burned gold. The snatch of a sight I got of those eyes stole my breath away—they were the same color that Inuyasha's had been. On the woman I saw a perfectly oval face, bright, straight teeth in her mouth. Her hair wasn't black when I viewed it from the corners of my eyes, it was more blue than black and had a glossier shine to it. There was a single mark on her forehead, a blue circle.

"We must consult the gods." Fuishiken turned toward his fiancée and touched her shoulder gently. "And of course an almanac. We will return to you, of course, before this week is out, Mrs. Higurashi. We will have our answer for you then." He paused, and this time smiled with real feeling as he looked at me. "My father may accompany us on that visit to finalize the appointment."

"Your father?" I asked, startled.

His fiancée answered for him, glancing toward Fuishiken briefly before she spoke, as if asking for permission, then she said, "Yes, Taishita Sesshomaru."

Now Souta reacted, blurting out, "Taishita _Sesshomaru?"_

"You have heard of him." Fuishiken observed, keenly. I thought I saw a knowing gleam in his eye that reminded me a little too much of a certain Shinku Byakko and not a Taishita at all.

"Uh…yeah." Souta answered, inelegantly, then stammered, trying to cover his tracks. "In legend, I mean. Or…just his first name—uh, there was a character in legend by that name!" he grinned and rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Isn't that a coincidence?" he laughed, trying to brush away his nervousness.

My mouth was dry; I didn't know what to say. Was it coincidence? It couldn't be. One of Sesshomaru's sons had come to the _Higurashi_ shrine looking for me to perform their marriage?

To make matters worse, Fuishiken turned his gaze on me and asked, "You have heard of this myth as well, Mrs. Higurashi?"

I nodded, but said nothing, too afraid and overwhelmed to demand, as I wanted to, why they were there, the real story. Why were they all toying with me?

"How amusing." His fiancée added, covering her lips delicately and laughing into them lightly. "Your father as a figure in mythology."

"Indeed." Fuishiken answered her without turning his eyes away from me. "Perhaps Mrs. Higurashi will wish to consult with my father regarding this _myth _when he comes to visit her."

I opened my mouth to speak, but no sound came out. Fuishiken and his fiancée stared at me knowingly, smirking lightly. Then, before I could regain my composure, they bowed and excused themselves, promising to return within a matter of days.

As we watched them walking away through the bright red gate, Souta began, hesitantly, asking me what I thought of them. "Did it feel like they were…" he frowned, searching helplessly for a word to describe what we'd seen. "…see-through?"

"They weren't what they appeared to be." I answered nodding. "It can't be a coincidence."

The youkai weren't finished with me yet after all. And now it appeared I would deal with the Taishita himself. Part of me twisted with excitement while the rest of me cringed with fear. _What have I gotten myself into?_ But as they disappeared beyond the gate, going down the hill to the street, I already knew what it was: _answers. _I was getting _answers._

* * *

The sliding door opened. A faint shadow moved through the room. Bare feet passed within a few inches of Kagome's face. The small, white-robed shape knelt at the miko's head and bent forward, placing a small cup on the matting beside the thin futon.

Kagome woke blearily, moaning in a thick but weakened voice. Her face was caked with old, dried blood. The skin around her eyes was swelling slightly. She tried to speak, but the words were indistinct and unclear.

Kanna slipped her hands beneath the bowl she'd brought and lifted it, bringing it to Kagome's face. Kagome blinked at the movement, but because of the blow to her head, her vision was even more disrupted than it had been before. Coupled with darkness, Kagome was nearly blind. The blow to her head had also thrown her into a light fever as her brain rebounded from the trauma. She was dazed, hardly able to comprehend the things that were happening around her.

Kanna touched the bowl to Kagome's lips, gently, mimicking the touch one would offer if the bowl contained water. Kagome moaned, turning her face weakly away once. Kanna lifted the bowl away, keeping it from spilling as the miko lifted her hands and covered her face, shielding it. She was aware enough that she would resist strange liquids poured into her mouth.

Another shadow spilled across the doorway, filling the room. This shape was also female, dressed in a kimono, clutching a large fan in one hand and looking irritably into the darkness of the room. "Drink." She ordered, bored.

In Kagome's delusion, the wind demon's voice warped and changed, becoming her mother's. It was her mother at her bedside, oddly shrunken and in white. Kagome whimpered and lowered her arms. "Mama…?"

The voice repeated, "Drink."

The bowl touched her lips again, a little more insistently now. Kagome squeezed her eyes tightly closed and parted her lips, letting the liquid pass into her mouth. She swallowed one mouthful without tasting the stuff, and then stopped on the second, choking.

Kagura stepped into the room, sighing with annoyance. "You choked her, Kanna." She grumbled, reaching to the miko and pulling her onto her side. None too gently, Kagura patted Kagome's back, encouraging her to cough up what she'd choked.

Spittle, a little of the liquid, and some old blood from the back of her throat, dirtied the floorboards, making the room smell acridly. Kagura snatched the bowl from Kanna. "You can clean this up. I'll get her to swallow it."

Kanna moved wordlessly away, letting Kagura settle closer to Kagome. The wind sorceress propped the still coughing Kagome up into a sitting position. The miko's skin was burning, in multiple ways. She had a lot of spiritual power, and that made touching her hard. She also had a fever, which made her physically hot. Kagura brought the bowl to Kagome's lips again and commanded, "Swallow this."

The miko turned her face away, cringing and coughing still. The liquid was bitter, her mouth tasted foul. She tried to speak, tried to ask what it was, but the words couldn't form in her mouth. Why would her mother be making her drink something that tasted like poison?

Forcefully, Kagura pressed the bowl to her mouth, parting the miko's lips with the rim. "You'd better swallow it." she groaned.

The liquid came again, faster now. Kagome swallowed the first mouthful to avoid choking again, the second one she spat right back out. The fluid was sticky and foul smelling in the air. Another mouthful—she swallowed some and spit up the rest. She shook her head, letting more of it spill away from her, coating her clothing, the futon, and the floorboards.

At last the bowl was pulled away. Kagome pawed at her messy, sticky face, trying to wipe away the strange broth that her captor had forced on her. A man's voice made her body stiffen with fear when she heard it from the doorway.

"Did she drink it, Kagura?"

"Some of it." the woman holding her upright responded, irritably.

"It will be enough." The man answered, sounding smug and pleased with himself. "Leave her for an hour, then you will need to return and attend her. Find Inuyasha, I'm sure he's on his way. Tell me how far he's gotten, Kagura."

The wind sorceress moved away from Kagome, letting the miko fall back into her sleeping position limply. She was a horrible mess; the broth was caught in her hair, smeared on her face.

Naraku watched her for a time, his lips curled in a small, cruel smile. Her suffering had only just begun. _How delicious…_

Kanna was still inside the room, trying to clean the floor where Kagome had choked and spit up the broth. She even wiped gently on Kagome's face once or twice before the miko moaned and turned her head away. Naraku spoke in his deep voice, purring, "Leave Kanna."

The ghost-like girl rose to her feet obediently and slipped past him, taking the soiled cloth she'd used to clean away with her.

Alone now and staring into the room with the doomed miko, Naraku's expression changed, slackening with desire. The stink of illness was beginning to rise from her. Soon Inuyasha would feel the change and it would undoubtedly drive him mad…

He started to take a step forward, but abruptly his mind sharpened as Kagura reached out to him, shock and surprise coloring her mind powerfully. _Sesshomaru is coming!_

Naraku halted, his mouth falling open in alarm. He hadn't considered Inuyasha's older brother getting to him first. He hadn't stopped to consider where Sesshomaru was, usually the brothers stayed as far apart as they could from one another. It seemed that luck was against him this time. The wind had shared his scent and his location not just with his intended enemy, but also—and perhaps _first_—with Sesshomaru.

_Distract him, Kagura…_

But she was already cut off from him, busy with the inuyoukai…

Naraku's lips curled in a snarl and he turned away from the miko, stalking down the dark hall and toward the outside world. If Kagura was betraying him he would have to dispatch her without hesitation. She was beginning to become more menace than help.

* * *

"Lord Sesshomaru." Kagura stepped casually out of the trees to Sesshomaru's far left. Her fan was closed but held at waist-level, seemingly ready to be used against him. When she caught his golden eyes taking her in, Kagura gave a small bow, showing respect.

"Kagura." He acknowledged her, blandly. She had offered help or advice many times to him, but Sesshomaru wasn't stupid. Kagura was still bound to Naraku irrevocably, and her only true interest was in survival and freedom.

"Naraku intends to lure Inuyasha here and kill him. He has the Sacred Jewel and—"

Sesshomaru interrupted her, almost sounding bored. "And the girl that my brother travels with. What have you come here to tell me, Kagura?"

The wind sorceress lifted her head a little higher, her jaw tightened. "Naraku has sent me here to distract you. He has not taken the Jewel Shards from the girl yet. They are…" she paused, frowningly, "…too pure for him to handle."

Sesshomaru inferred her meaning quickly: Naraku wasn't strong enough to ward off a combined attack. His plan had run into some trouble.

Without another word, Sesshomaru began to walk forward again, following the scent that was still flowing easily on the wind. Kagura took a step out of the shadows of the trees; she moved her fan, opening it slightly as if about to attack.

Sesshomaru halted, moving his hand to his waist, to the hilt of his sword. "You intend to stop me." She was impossible to predict, at some times loyal to Naraku, at others clearly defiant. It was entirely possible that Naraku had counted on this interaction and had planned it all out already.

To his surprise—though he refused to show the emotion—Kagura dropped to her knees, though the motion was awkward. "Lord Sesshomaru. I'm not sure how much longer I will be able to speak with you frankly. I ask you, please, incapacitate me. I do not wish to stop you, but Naraku will force me to…"

His hand was still on the hilt of his sword, but Sesshomaru had not yet drawn it. He gazed at Kagura's dark black hair, the red and white striped kimono, her bare feet. He couldn't see her eyes. Was she afraid? Was she genuine? It wasn't truly in his nature to attack without provocation but in this instance…

"You are certain?" as he spoke, Sesshomaru released the hilt of his sword and let his arm dangle. From the tips of his fingers, green spectral energy began to coalesce, growing from each finger and meeting, forming a long, green-glowing whip.

There was a pause. Kagura had not lifted her eyes to him yet, but her breathing had changed, growing deeper, heavier, as if she were falling asleep right before him where she kneeled in the dirt. She shifted and Sesshomaru tensed, anticipating an attack, but Kagura only placed her hands flat on the ground, palms flat to the dirt. She pushed her fan away with one hand weakly.

She nodded then at last. "I want Naraku dead." She had always believed that only Sesshomaru had the power to do it. If she had to shed her blood to put an end to Naraku then she would gladly do it…

"Very well." Sesshomaru lifted his arm in a rapid motion, too fast for the eye to follow. A cracking sound ripped the air apart as the glowing whip lashed out, throwing Kagura back.

She cried out, rolling away. Now Sesshomaru could see her face, pinched tightly with pain. Without hesitation she began to push herself back into a kneeling position, making no move for her abandoned fan. "Hurry." She gasped, her voice already ragged.

Sesshomaru rushed forward, ducking to snatch Kagura up by the neck. The wind sorceress cried out with surprise, then just as quickly gritted her teeth, silencing herself. Her hands lifted, closing around his arm, as if trying to fight, but she didn't dig her nails into his flesh, just held on tightly. Sesshomaru held her high in the air, holding her throat so tightly that her wind pipe closed up.

Kagura's eyes opened widely, her mouth gaped uselessly, struggling for breath. Her hands dug at his arm now, trying instinctually to free herself.

His face was cold as he changed his grip, sinking his claws into the tender flesh of her neck. Sesshomaru closed his eyes briefly and when they opened again the pupils were dilated and bright red. Kagura's own had changed from their usual red to an almost human shade, earthy and brown.

Sesshomaru freed his poison, letting it pass through his fingertips into Kagura's flesh, into her body.

The wind sorceress convulsed, her legs kicking ineffectively, her eyelids flickering wildly, and her lips moving wordlessly.

She fought for consciousness for a long time, long enough that Sesshomaru's face changed, becoming sour. There was almost a softness in his eyes, in the small frown in his lips.

At long last she fell limp in his grasp. Sesshomaru lowered her to the ground gently. He paused for a moment, taking in her pale face, her closed eyes, and the red-purple bruising around her neck, left by a combination of his choking hold and the poison that had entered her body.

Then, finally, Sesshomaru turned away from her and began to walk away. Only a few steps away, however, he stopped and turned, loosing the green-glowing whip from his fingers again. He bright his arm back and flicked his fingers forward, sending the tip lashing out. It caught the ground a few feet from where Kagura was lying unconscious, barely breathing. Her fan, lying open on the ground, splintered like glass at the touch of his whip. Pieces of it flew wildly about, scattering. A few landed on Kagura's face, on her clothes.

Sesshomaru let the whip recede and turned away from the scene, following the scent on the wind—heading for Naraku.

* * *

When Kagura passed out, her pain and the nearness of death, reached Naraku easily. He might've killed her himself, destroying her heart where it stayed hidden inside his own body, connecting her perpetually to him, but he was more concerned with the powerful inuyoukai aura that was fast descending on him.

He needed the Sacred Jewel.

Kanna had reentered the room where the miko stayed, knelt beside her futon stolidly, listening to the girl's moans and occasional, choked sobs dispassionately. Naraku hovered, impatiently, feeling the aura of the girl and of the Jewel. The girl was suffering deliciously, but he had no time to enjoy that. The girl was strong; it would take a great deal of trouble to taint the Jewel even a little bit…

Finally the miko rolled over and began making a different sound, a gagging noise. Without emotion, Kanna reacted, bringing forward a large, ugly bowl and holding it out for the girl. The miko heaved, vomiting into the bowl until her efforts brought nothing but spittle and air. She fell back to the futon, clutching her stomach and moaning loudly.

Kanna pushed the bowl with its foul contents away and leaned over the miko's writhing body, pulling the thin sheet from her. The girl's kimono was colored with a growing wet stain of brilliant red. She was bleeding.

Naraku grinned and ran his tongue over his teeth. "It has begun at last."

* * *

Another day passed and fell into night before at last Sango stirred. Kaede had gone to attend a sick child in the village, which meant that only Miroku was there to look after Sango when she turned her head from side to side and moaned, slowly opening her eyes.

"Sango." He called to her, touching her cheek with the outside of his hand gently. "Sango?"

The demon slayer's face pinched with pain, the space between her eyebrows furrowed deeply. "M…" she started to murmur his name but ended up massacring the other consonants horribly. She fought to open her eyes, blinking up blearily at him. The corners of her lips tried to pull upward in a smile, though it was tight with pain.

The room was gray, darkening faster and faster. Outside the sky was clouding up, covering the stars and obscuring the last light from the sunset. Miroku was torn between leaving her side to light lamps or ignoring the dark and staying loyally at her side. He ignored the darkness for a time, choosing to treat her as best as he could first.

"You must drink something." Miroku moved away from her and reappeared with a cup filled with water. Delicately, the monk tried to prop up Sango's head and tip the cup to her lips. "Are you ready?"

She tried to nod, the muscles in her neck straining against the palm of the hand Miroku used to keep her head upright. It was all the signal that Miroku needed. He tipped the cup, gradually pouring the water into her mouth. She swallowed it until it was gone without choking. Miroku withdrew from her, setting the cup aside. Tenderly, though his hands shook slightly, he stroked her hair, moving it away from her face and mouth. "Are you hungry?"

Sango's face was still creased heavily with pain, but she nodded. "Yeah…"

Again Miroku left her for a moment, fetching a thick, pasty gruel that Kaede had left for just this purpose. Sango would benefit more if she could simply swallow her food, saving all the energy she could. Of course Miroku would have to feed her as if she were a baby and be extra careful not to let it choke her. (A/N: as I was writing this I realized that mashed food like this would be impossible for him to spoon feed it to her because as far as I know they're pretty much using chopsticks, there aren't any spoons exactly on hand. That at once opened up another delicious thought…I had Sango feed one of her babies this way in _Runaway,_ so now Miroku will get to do it…)

He knelt at her side and began to poke at the gruel in its bowl. The light was so faint now that only the moist things in the room showed any light at all. Sango's eyes as she looked around the room, her eyeballs moving sluggishly with her exhaustion and pain. The gruel itself glittered wetly underneath Miroku's chopsticks. He hesitated, glancing between the bowl and Sango, considering what it was he was about to do.

"M'roku?" Sango asked, again butchering parts of his name. Her voice was thick and slurred. If she hadn't been Sango, and he hadn't treated her wounds and watched over her for the better part of two days already, Miroku could've almost imagined that she was drunk from a good party, not horribly injured.

"Yes…" he had been about to call her _lovely Sango_ or any one of the other teasing names he'd developed for her, but the words died on his tongue, cut short as the lump in his throat caught, stealing away his attempt at lightening the mood.

"Where…" she turned her head, trying to clear her throat and finish her sentence, "…is Inu-ya…"

Miroku sighed and stuck the gruel with the chopsticks with more force this time, sloshing the stuff a little. "Inuyasha, Kilala, and Shippo have left to pursue Naraku."

Sango was staring at him through the dark, her eyes glistening and moist. "You…didn't?"

He stiffened a little, avoiding her gaze. "I could not."

"Houshi…sama." Sango murmured, her voice dropping to a weak whimper.

"You must eat." Miroku swallowed once, quickly, and then lifted the bowl of gruel to his lips and pushed a little of it in, half a mouthful.

Sango stared at him confusedly for a moment, frowning. "M'rok…"

He set the bowl and chopsticks aside and leaned forward over her body, moving his face close to hers. Sango stayed still, as if frightened. Her hands tried to move beneath the blankets covering her, but Miroku pushed them away gently. She didn't fight him, whether that was because she realized what he was trying to do or because she just lacked the strength Miroku couldn't know. Even so he pressed his lips to hers and passed the small mouthful to her, then withdrew quickly, wiping his mouth.

The gruel really didn't taste very good. Miroku scowled, fighting both disgust at the flavor and embarrassment.

Sango made a small sound in her throat, startling Miroku. At first he moved as if to help her, assuming that she was choking on the disgusting gruel, but as she smiled, her teeth glittering in the darkness with moisture, he realized she was actually laughing. "Sango?"

The demon slayer turned her face toward him, but her eyes roved elsewhere. Miroku felt a jolt when he saw a gleaming teardrop fall from one eye onto the futon. Others followed it, some rolling even over the bridge of her nose and catching there, hanging like dew. "Kohaku." She said, and swallowed so that Miroku could see her Adam's apple move up and down. "I fed him…like that."

Miroku understood her tears then. Whether she meant that she had fed him as a young child or on one of the occasions when, for a short time, they had recovered Kohaku from Naraku's clutches, only to lose him again. (A/N: wasn't there a time when that happened? They got him back severely wounded only to lose him again? Or did I make it up?)

"Sango, I'm sorry…" Miroku told her, whisperingly. He stared at her for a moment and then rose from his position at her bedside and moved to the fire, stirring the embers and adding strips of bark and leaves and wood until the tongues of flame lashed out high and healthy again, consuming the material he had fed them. New light filled Kaede's hut, illuminating the room.

With a sigh, Miroku sat back down beside Sango and reached for the bowl again. In the light he was pleased to see that Sango appeared more alert now—he dared to allow hope to reach his heart. Sango had always been strong, to the point where he felt she could give Inuyasha a run for his money.

As Miroku scooped more of the gruel into his mouth, a little more of it this time, and cringed at the taste, Sango watched him. Both discomfort and amusement colored her face, battling one another for a spot there.

"Miroku." She managed his whole name now, mastering her tongue at last. "You should've…" now her lungs were the only thing impeding her, she stopped to draw in another careful breath, grimacing with pain. "Gone with Inuyasha."

Despite its horrible taste, Miroku was glad he had the gruel in his mouth to stop his tongue. The best he could do was a frown at the wounded demon slayer before he leaned down to feed her once more. She didn't fight him at all this time though Miroku didn't miss her scowl at the taste—though it could've also been disgust at the method of feeding, of course. If only she were healthy and allowed him to feed her in such a manner!

He fought the smirk on his face, hoping she missed it while he dug in the gruel. "I could not. I elected to stay behind and care for you, my Sango."

She closed her eyes tiredly. "I could never be…" she drew a labored breath, "…happy knowing I prevented you…" she stopped this thought midway through and her eyes opened widely, "And Kagome…?" her face twisted with a new, raw emotion of worry and concern. "Naraku…"

"Naraku has held her captive before and not harmed her." Miroku replied, weakly. It was a lame argument, they both knew that. He couldn't meet Sango's gaze. He pushed more of the gruel into his mouth and leaned forward to pass it to her before she could speak again.

As he pulled back from her, Miroku saw Sango's face transform with pain for a moment before she stifled the expression and forced her body to relax into the sleeping mat. "Sango? Are you in pain?"

She spoke through gritted teeth. "Some."

"Lady Kaede must attend your wounds and change the bandages…"

Sango frowned at the thought. "More pain then."

Miroku laughed tensely but cut himself off just as quickly. There was a long moment of silence as the couple stared at one another, trying to smile. At last Miroku ducked his head in a bow. "I will pray for you, my Sango."

Her eyes welled up abruptly with fresh tears, making her eyes glitter up at him as if from two puddles. "Thank you, Houshi-sama…" a wobbly, shaking hand reached out and touched his knee, the closest part of him, squeezing faintly. "But you must help…" she took another wheezing breath, "Kagome, Inu-yasha." Her brown eyes were still full to the brim with tears as she looked up at him, entreating him pleadingly. "Kohaku…for me…"

Miroku's lips compressed into a thin, tight line. "Sango…" he whispered her name, and blinked rapidly, feeling his own emotion reaching up inside him. "I can't leave you."

Her hand made a fist and tugged on his robes, trying to bring him closer. The hold was weak, but Miroku bent forward, moving closer to her without resistance. When he was less than a foot away, Sango let go of his knee and reached with her shaking hands for his face. She brushed his cheeks felt his hair. Her hand was damp and warm with sweat but Miroku grasped it anyway, holding tight.

"You must go." Sango told him, her words faint but strong.

Miroku shook his head, still holding her hand close to his face. "No—I won't leave you Sango, not yet…"

Sango's face was stern, unyielding. "Promise you will. Soon."

"Sango, please…" he searched her face and then tried to pull away, fighting his own tears.

She squeezed his hand with her own. "Promise me."

He sighed, his shoulders sagging pathetically. "I promise—but you must promise me something too." He launched into it without pausing to hear whether she was willing or not. "Promise me you'll recover and when you do, whether we kill Naraku this time or not, you'll marry me Sango…"

The demon slayer's mouth had fallen open slightly; the tears continued to fall until it seemed to Miroku that she would never be able to see out of those beautiful brown jewels at all. The muscles around her mouth quivered, caught between speaking, smiling, or frowning as she cried. "Houshi-sama…" she breathed.

"Promise me." Miroku repeated, firmly. In his passion he half-forgot to fight the tears that prickled his eyes.

Sango's mouth closed tightly, the line between her eyebrows crinkled up. She almost appeared angry, but her eyes were still filled with tears. "I promise, Miroku."

Miroku released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and knelt lower until his face was against hers, cheek to cheek. He closed his eyes, shedding the tears that were in his eyes while banishing the rest that tried to well up there. "Thank you." He murmured.

The only answer he received was Sango's weak arms wrapping around him and her crying at last in earnest.

* * *

A/N: and that chapter is finished. I swear we're almost done... 


End file.
